Life

Watch These People Get Their "First Gay Hug"

by Marisa Riley

By now we’ve all seen (or at least heard of) "First Kiss," that viral video in which several strangers kiss for the first time on camera. As more and more parodies of what turned out to be an ad for a clothing company crop up, one is standing out from the rest: "First Gay Hug." The Gay Women Channel recently posted a video where they asked “15 homophobic people to hug gay strangers.” The results are pretty heartwarming.

Brought to you by the same ladies who produced "Gay Women Will Marry Your Boyfriends", the parody manages to do something awesome: it bonds homophobic people with gay ones — sort of. Not unlike First Kiss, the video starts off with awkward introductions and stiff body language. Several of the homophobic people state why they're uncomfortable with the idea of their future hugging partners' lifestyles — one girl even says “You’re so pretty to be gay.” I know, yikes.

Then, at 2:06, they hug.

Some are friendly embraces, some are full-blown "boob squishers," and there's even one established “bro hug,” but several manage to break down invisible barriers that existed at the beginning of the video. One elderly “anti-gay” woman even compares her new gay friend — with whom she holds hands post-hug — to her husband.

Watch the video and continue the conversation The Gay Women Channel started. Unfortunately we can't fix everything with a hug (I wish), but we can definitely talk about it.

Image: The Gay Woman Chanel / YouTube