The Internet Is Rallying Behind A Man Who Was Denied A Rescue Cat Adoption For Being Gay

Pop quiz: how does one's sexuality impact one's ability to care for a pet? Trick question! It doesn't, obviously. But one man was recently reminded that homophobia and bigotry are alive and well, when he was told he couldn't adopt a cat because he's gay. Alex Andreou shared the whole baffling ordeal on Twitter, in a series of tweets that have since gone viral; and while there was at least this one person judging him for his sexuality, strangers of Twitterverse have come pouring in with support.

It seems Andreou drove two hours to adopt some cats who, according to the woman who was caring for them and posted an ad about them, desperately needed to be rehomed. However, when Andreou was on her street and about to arrive, the woman started questioning his relationship status in an obvious attempt to determine his sexuality, before sharing with him her disdain of his lifestyle, as her religion is against it. I'm guessing her religion is also against judging others, but, ya know, minor details.

It hopefully doesn't need to be said that this woman clearly didn't care for the wellbeing of the cats, who'd probably live a wonderful life filled with love under the protection of a gentleman like Andreou.

Andreou posted screenshots of their conversation, and like many others, you'll probably have a hard time accepting that this is reality.

As if this wasn't bad enough, things took a seriously weird turn when Andreou tried to adopt the cats anyway by sending a friend, Lisa, to do it; and she didn't have any luck other. The reason? The woman was hesitant to give Lisa the cats without seeing where she lived first — except, Lisa had already opened her doors to her.

Aside from this woman's moral compass, something was seriously off — and Andreou knew it; so he did a little more digging. He learned that not only was this woman turning down everyone who tried to adopt the kittehs, but the photo of them wasn't even legitimate.

Andreou explained in subsequent tweets that she called him and admitted to turning many people away, but only because she cares for the cats so much. As for the generic stock photo she used? She claimed not to own a camera and said all the cats look the same anyway. Andreou reported her ad and notified the police, so hopefully no one else has to go through this again.

If you're appalled, you're not alone. Countless people joined in the conversation to express their disgust at this pet adoption gone horribly wrong.

Of course, this conversation wouldn't be complete without a few tweets sprinkled in from the haters; but Andreou is handling it like a champ.

It was an experience that initially reduced Andreou to tears; but there is one silver lining here: he shed light on how much work we still have to do and helped bring people together for a truly beautiful reason. There is only one thing that can determine your ability to care for an animal: your ability to care for an animal. Not sexuality, nor race, nor gender, nor education level.

We hope that Andreou finds the perfect kittens to add to his family, and we're sure they'll have a wonderful life.

In the meantime, there is this: