LGBT+ people have shared photos showing just how gloriously ecstatic they really are after a far-right conspiracy theorist said gay people can’t be happy.
Gemma O’Doherty, a former journalist from Ireland who has been permanently banned from Twitter, made her incendiary comments about queer people in a live-streamed video.
“I don’t see anyone or know anyone who is gay who is happy. I just don’t,” O’Doherty said in the video, which was subsequently uploaded to Twitter.
“It’s a miserable lifestyle. It’s a promiscuous lifestyle. It’s a dark lifestyle.”
The video was widely-shared on social media, prompting LGBT+ people to share photos of themselves showing just how happy, bright and colourful their lives are.
Emmerdale star Michelle Hardwick shot the far-right down with beautiful family photo
Michelle Hardwick, who plays Vanessa Woodfield in Emmerdale, led the charge, sharing a gorgeous photo of herself, her wife and their son together on a sunny day.
“Yup, this picture radiates misery,” Hardwick tweeted, along with a smiley face emoji and a Pride-flag emoji.
Countless other queer people responded to O’Doherty’s video with their own photos showing just how happy they are.
Gemma O’Doherty was once a highly-regarded journalist in Ireland where she worked for the Irish Independent. In recent years, she has become known for sharing conspiracy theories about migration, George Soros and Islam.
In 2019, a mixed-race couple from Meath, Ireland, were dogpiled with racist abuse after O’Doherty shared a Lidl advert they were featured in. Writing on Twitter at the time, O’Doherty alluded to the white nationalist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which falsely claims white people are being replaced by people of other ethnicities.
O’Doherty was permanently suspended from Twitter in July 2020 following repeated violations of the social media platform’s policies. She was banned from YouTube in 2019 shortly after she posted a video in which she spoke about ethnic minorities in Ireland.
In 2018, O’Doherty had a very public run-in with Ireland’s foremost drag queen Panti Bliss after she asked for her support in the country’s presidential election.
Panti Bliss shared O’Doherty’s plea for help on Twitter, saying her alleged support for the LGBT+ community was “bulls**t”.
