Dad’s heartwarming show of support to gay teenage son goes viral on TikTok

A boy, 15, and his father have become TikTok stars after the teenager came out in public with his dad by his side.

Caden Wyatt told his family he was gay a year ago, and this year they decided to show how proud they are to the world.

In a video posted to the social media platform, dad John, 45, helped Caden raise a rainbow ally flag on the front of their Oklahoma home in celebration of Pride Month.

He captioned the clip: “Happy Pride Month to y’all, especially to my son! Love you @cadenwyatt12 #pridemonth #pride2021 #ally #prouddad #proudmom Just do you boo…”

At the start of the sequence, John tells viewers: “We are fixin’ to shock Oklahoma and our neighbourhood. Yeah boy!”

Then, as Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ plays in the background, Caden can be seen drilling an attachment into the wall and preparing to fly the flag for all to see.

It ends with a selfie of John and presumably Caden’s mum smiling happily with their son beneath the colourful banner.

The heartwarming clip racked up more than 1.7 million views and 400,000 likes in just five days, as fellow TikTokers shared their joy and admiration at the display.

John helped his son Caden fly an ally flag outside their house to show the family’s support of him and the LGBTQ+ communityTikTok/@wyattearptulsa

Speaking about the viral clip to BuzzFeed News, Caden said: “I’m really lucky to have such supportive parents, because I know a lot of other people aren’t as lucky as me.”

In their neighbourhood, just outside Tulsa, the area is considered conservative – a group not known for being tolerant of the LGBTQ+ community.

John explained: “There’s a lot of Q flags in our neighbourhood, a lot of Trump flags and Blue Lives Matter Flags. You don’t see any pride flags at all.”

Some online questioned the use of the ally flag, which has black and white bars to represent cisgender, heterosexual people alongside the rainbow Pride colours.

But the outpouring was overwhelmingly positive, John said, adding that they had not experienced any backlash from the community.

He continued: “We’re letting people know it’s a safe place.

“I’m not trying to cause any controversy in the neighbourhood, but maybe there’s some person out there who will see that flag and smile and feel safe.”