The 19 most heartwarming stories of 2017

If you needed a bit of good news in what has been a mixed bag for LGBT people in 2017, look no further.

PinkNews loves reporting on positive, heartwarming stories of positivity and love affecting the LGBT community.

So without further or do here are the most heartwarming and funny stories of the past year.

1. This bi teenager’s tweet about staring at same-sex couples that went viral

Kait, a bisexual teenager with a large Twitter following who has a history of skewering homophobes felt she had to hilariously explain herself for sometimes staring at same-sex couples.

In a viral post which attracted more than 100,000 retweets and likes, the teen tweeted: “Any gay couple holding hands in public who caught me staring at you: i’m gay and jealous not homophobic”.

Simple, but hilarious. And this really struck a chord with her followers.

“I try not to stare but I’m so proud,” one person wrote, while another said: “I thought I was the only one omfg”.

2. This grandma’s adorable reaction to her granddaughter coming out as bi

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User sunatjexd, real name Suna Huls, posted a picture on Tumblr of her grandma holding a rainbow knitted jumper – a gift for the user after she came out as bisexual.

A Twitter user picked up on the heart-warming picture and tweeted about it. The tweet has since received hundreds of thousands of retweets.

Huls told PinkNews that she was “overwhelmed” by the reaction.

“I was kind of overwhelmed. I had no idea it was going get so much attention. I was also happy, because I got to show the world how amazing my grandma is.”

3. And this other grandma who reacted perfectly to her grandson coming out as trans

A transgender guy revealed in a video that he confided in his 83-year-old gran, and her response is incredible.

Gavin Cueto came out as transgender to his gran when he was 11, as he was too scared to come out to his mum.

Elaine, 83, says she “didn’t understand it was possible to be born in the wrong body”, and that she had never heard the word transgender before.

But she soon understood and the pair bonded over Gavin’s coming out.

Watch it here:

4. When a gay man pregnant with his husband’s child gave birth to an adorable baby boy

Trystan Reece, of Portland, Oregon, made headlines earlier this year with TV appearances talking about his pregnancy with Biff Chaplow.

Having already raised their niece and nephew together, the couple were able to conceive their own biological child.

And earlier this year, Trystan gave birth, posting pictures and videos on Facebook with their new son, Leo Murray Chaplow.

5. When this man’s girlfriends found out he was cheating and started dating each other

In the ultimate tale of revenge, this guy’s two girlfriends found out he was cheating on them with each other.

They initially got revenge and eventually became best friends.

But in a twist of fate, the pair eventually announced that they were a couple.

The tweet garnered 332,000 retweets and likes, spreading through the internet like an infectious smile.

6. The time Kristen Stewart and her girlfriend crashed a lesbian wedding

Two brides got a surprise when their wedding party was crashed by actress Kristen Stewart and her model girlfriend Stella Maxwell.

Kirsten and Kayleigh Jennings got married in Kirsten’s parents’ backyard in Winnipeg, Canada, before heading to a local restaurant for the reception.

But at about 10pm, the restaurant owner came over to Kirsten with a strange request.

“He said: ‘Hey, is it OK if Kristen Stewart and her girlfriend Stella come and have a few drinks with you guys?’”

Kirsten’s reply? “Yeah, no problem. Um, who is that?”

But despite not knowing who she was, she twigged on eventually and Stewart and Maxwell drank and danced with them until the early hours.

7. That this gay couple, legally father and son, were finally able to marry

A gay man who adopted his partner in the absence of same-sex marriage rights was this year allowed to dissolve the guardianship in order for the couple to legally marry.

For more than a year, Roland Bosee Jr and Nino Esposito, who have been together since 1970, had been unclear about the future of their slightly complicated relationship.

Esposito, 79, legally adopted Bosee Jr, 69, back in 2012, as they sought after some legal protections in lieu of same-sex marriage laws in the US.

Before same-sex marriage became legal in the US, it was common for same-sex couples to ‘adopt’ one another in order to afford themselves some legal protections under the law for issues like inheritance.

But despite that same-sex marriage became legal in 2014 and the US Supreme Court made gay marriage legal across all 50 states in 2015, the couple had later been unable to marry because they were legally father and son.

This year, a Pennsylvania Superior Court allowed the couple to dissolve the adoption and has set a legal precedent in the state for couples who did the same.

8. When this lesbian couple had babies and the sperm donors were husbands

Mariely Martinez and her wife Carla Melendez both gave birth within a month of each other, with their friends Juny Roman and Alex Torres as sperm donors.

The catch? Juny and Alex are also married.

When researching donor options, Martinez and Melendez realised they didn’t want to use a sperm bank.

They wanted the dad to be a part of their children’s life, so asked their friend, Torres.

The couple had known Torres for ten years, and reconnected with him when they had moved to Florida.

Both women wanted to carry a baby, but initially, they had planned for Torres to father both children.

However, when they met his husband Roman, they changed their minds.

“Mariely knew she wanted him to be a dad.

“She loved his personality, everything about him,” Melendez told ABC News.

And, after going through pregnancy together, Martinez and Melendez have their perfect, unusual, family.

9. Glee star comes out as trans and reveals their name

A former Glee actor and singer came out as trans this year, revealing his name as Jake Zyrus.

Zyrus began work on the musical hit in its second season, starring in the role of Sunshine Corazon, a foreign exchange student.

The interview with Oprah took place on a ‘where are they now’ special where she catches up with celebrities that were once in the public eye.

“I knew when I was five,” he told Oprah.

“I was in grade school and I saw this girl and I felt different… I didn’t know what it was, but I just knew at that time, it felt special.”

10. When this amazing tweet about coming out proved that mums are always right…

A lesbian has possibly proven that mums are always right, but definitely, that suspense works.

In a huge plot twist, a 20-year-old took a four-year break to come out as gay, after denying to her mum that she was a lesbian.

Jareliz Diaz back in 2013 tweeted that her mother had asked if she was a lesbian because she had appreciated the female form.

She wrote: “My mom just asked me if I’m a lesbian -.- wtf noooo !!! It’s like I can’t think women are pretty.”

But much to the surprise of her followers, four years later, on 22 April 2017, she added that her mum had been right all along.

She said, simply: “Update: I am a lesbian. She was right.”

Brilliant!

11. Jackie Chan’s six-word reaction to his daughter coming out as gay

The daughter of martial artist and actor Jackie Chan came out as a lesbian earlier this year.

Etta Ng took to Instagram to tell the world that she is a gay, posing in front of a rainbow coloured background.

The daughter of Chan and former Hong Kong beauty queen Elaine Ng had struggled with her sexuality for a long time.

Asked about his daughter coming out as a lesbian while promoting his film The Foreigner, the martial arts star simply said: “If she likes it, that’s fine.”

12. This guy was reuinted with his long-lost gay brother after his parents said he had gone missing

In a touching story posted on Reddit, one man recounted how after decades apart, he and his brothers were reunited.

His parents had told him his gay brother was ‘missing’.

Writing in four gripping instalments, Reddit user throwaway4620048486 explained his brother’s ‘disappearance’ and the emotional journey to reconnecting with him.

His brother, 18 at the time, was allegedly the subject of a missing person’s case, and their parents were interviewed for local news. His disappearance became “one of those creepy unsolved mysteries”.

In two follow up posts, throwaway said he had made a shocking discovery.

His parents had found his brother – years ago, they knew he was gay, and they had kept it a secret.

After they were reunited, his brother tried to visit their parents but they refused to reconnect with him.

For this, throwaway says he cannot forgive them.

In a follow up post six months later, throwaway said he and his ‘new family’ were moving forward.

He, his wife, and children have upped sticks, and moved closer to his newly rediscovered brother.

13. This Walking Dead star came out as gay in an emotional reveal

The Walking Dead actor Daniel Newman came out as gay, saying it was “just time.”

In an emotional YouTube video (below), he said a chance meeting with a girl at a homeless youth centre he was volunteering at had changed his mind about hiding his sexuality.

The actor, who has also starred in Vampire Diaries, Homeland and Sex and the City, said the girl had thanked him profusely for helping the LGBT community.

After he had questioned why she was thanking him, she said: “Because you’re straight.”

“I’m not straight,” the actor, who plays Daniel in the show, had responded, and the girl’s answer floored him.

“Why have you never said that publicly before? You could help change our lives.”

“It hit me like a gut-punch,” Newman said. “It felt like someone knocked the wind out from me.

“And I realised how important it is in this day and age to be visible – to let people who know you are.”

Check out the emotional YouTube video below:

14. The time this mother and son bonded over Drag Race and doing their own drag makeup

Author Mikli Feria Jorge shared the pics of her and her son on Twitter and explained how it all came about.

“We were watching RuPaul’s Drag Race last night and this little one was, ‘I want to do that also!’,” she said.

Jorge added: “He had me do his wings, insisted on eyelashes, ate carefully to not ruin his lipstick.”

The posts received a mixed response on social media, but this family loved it and had a great time bonding over their new looks.

15. The time this 13-year-old and a 78-year-old sat down to talk about their experiences of being gay

A video was released this year which featured a 78-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy sit down to talk about their experiences of being gay.

78-year-old Percy and 13-year-old Louis talk about how they each experienced growing up and living as gay.

The video was released ahead of the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales.

“I think you are so lucky the world has changed and you can just be yourself,” says Percy in the video.

He also introduced his partner of 51 years, 89-year-old Roger.

Percy also discussed having to use fake names to get into clubs when he was 16.

Louis adds that he didn’t know it used to be illegal to be gay and that men were arrested.

He said: “Where you said you could get arrested, I never heard that before. I never thought the police would knock on your door and come in and arrest you for being gay. It’s like a shock.

“It amazes me how they could even just say for loving someone, you could be arrested. That completely shocks me.”

16. This couple posted photos of themselves across three decades to prove that it isn’t ‘just a phase’

With two pictures – one taken in 1993, and one in 2017 – Nick Cardello and Kurt English showed how long love can last.

The married couple, who met 25 years ago, captured their love together at Washington Pride in 1993, and then again at the same parade this year.

The two images, placed side-by-side, were reposted by multiple accounts until one Twitter user framed it with the remarks: “it’s just a phase”.

The post exploded, and got more than 150,000 retweets and 600,000 likes.

Nick, a photographer who forms one half of the couple, told PinkNews he “could never have imagined” the response which this picture would generate.

“I only posted the photo on my Facebook page after the march. It took off from there,” he said.

“Someone else copied it to Twitter, Instagram & Reddit. That’s when it really took off. A reporter from Brazil said it had over a million likes there.”

17. When this 12-year-old Mormon girl boldly came out as gay to her church congregation

A 12-year-old girl defied all expectations this year and came out as a lesbian to her Mormon church.

Savannah Ward from Utah took the stand at the churches monthly Fast and Testimony meeting at the church.

She began the moving speech by explaining that she believes she is “a child of heavenly parents”.

“I feel in my heart that they made me and that they love me. I believe I was made the way I am, all parts of me, by my heavenly parents.

“They did not mess up when they gave me brown eyes or when I was born bald. They did not mess up when they gave me freckles or when they made me gay,” the 12-year-old said.

The announcement was met with a small murmur from the church congregation but Savannah carried on with her testimony.

“I do believe he [God] made me this way on purpose. No part of me is a mistake. I do not choose to be this way and it is not a fad,” she said.

Savannah went on to explain that her identifying as a lesbian does not and should not have an effect on anybody else.

She said: “I cannot make someone else gay and being around me won’t make anyone else this way.

“I believe that God wants us to treat each other with kindness, even if people are different. Especially if they are different.”

Watch the powerful moment below:

18. When this 12-year-old boy who was punched for wearing makeup wowed Ellen

A 12-year-old has wowed Ellen DeGeneres with his singing and love for make-up.

Reuben de Maid, from Llandaff, Wales, performed the Dreamgirls classic And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going on the US daytime show.

The child star then met with Ellen and chatted about his love of make-up.

Ellen posted the interview online, writing: “I absolutely love this kid from Wales – his voice, his character, his uniqueness, all of it.”

De Maid, who recently finished primary school, told of how he had always loved make-up, and would learn how to apply it by watching tutorials online.

He added: “I’d love to be on stage but I’d like to have my own make-up brand and to have a YouTube channel with my sister and do make-up tutorials.”

He then opened up about the cruel bullying he had endured as a kid, telling Ellen: “In my drama group I used to get hit, punched and kicked.

19. This 5-year-old’s beautiful reaction to his brother coming out as gay

Children don’t judge and are usually honest – as proven by this clip of a five-year-old reacting to his big brother coming out to him as gay.

Oliver Potter, a YouTuber, recorded his coming out to his little brother Alfie and posted it to his channel.

In it he asks him “how do you think about love?” and the five-year-old’s reaction is brilliant.

Watch it here:

Let’s get on and make some more heartwarming moments in 2018!