New Longton villagers rally round gay couple who received homophobic message

A gay couple who were targeted with homophobic abuse say they are "overwhelmed" after their local community lined the streets with Pride flags in solidarity.

Villagers in New Longton, near Preston, showed their support for newsagent owners Nathan and Dan after they received a number of hateful letters in the post.

Armed with rainbow flags, dozens of people turned out in the rain for the couple to make it clear that homophobia would not be tolerated in their village.

The pair have been targeted with homophobic letters since taking over the the shop in January.

After hoisted a rainbow flag in the village for Pride Month, they received a hateful letter that said: "Get that revolting flag down.

"This is a Christian village (three churches) and children pass by.

"What kind of morons are you?"

Although Nathan and Dan have not spoken publicly about the community rallying around them, they have thanked the villagers for the support.

They said: "Just want to say a massive thank you and the support was overwhelming tonight and also the much loved support of Sarah and Chris for organising this event to raise awareness and also that the letters we received.

"Although this is not acceptable it is just a small fraction that in today's world we should all respect each other!

"Again, it's not about us but thank you so much for all your support! If there's anything we can do to help the community just pop and and see us!"

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