Thorsten Middelhof and Naparuj Mond Kaendi are two gay men who have been in a long distance relationship for over two years. Literally LONG distance! Thorsten is from Germany and Naparuj is from Thailand. Despite the geographical gap they have been pretty much in love since they met, using Skype and WhatsApp on a daily basis.

The couple also take dozens of regular trips to be together. What is already an amazing example of perseverance and dedication has been shaken by a viral web episode.

On one of those trips, the couple was photographed by an anonymous person sitting together and holding hands on the Sky Train in Bangkok. The Filipino website BV Patrol picked up the picture and post it on it's facebook page, expressing support for the couple, with the caption  “Support for them! Bitter people not allowed."

The picture received a lot of attention and comments after that post with many people writing very racist and uncomfortable messages like “Foreigners are fond of pets,” and “I Am/I Like Effeminates”. Regarding these, one upset commenter said "We are fighting for the right to love whoever we want... AS LONG AS THAT PERSON HAS THE SAME FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, BODY TYPE AND COLOR AS YOU. OTHERWISE, WE’LL HUMILIATE YOU, OK?”

A Brazilian Tumblr page "Black for Black" addressed this situation in the light of prejudice and hypocrisy so present within the gay and the straight community, which crowns White males and females with the standards of beauty in detriment of those of other ethnicities: "White people (for the most part cis, muscular men) are seen as prizes; they have a God-like status in their communities and they’re seen as dream partners in marriage.

It’s still a big shock to see ‘Greek Gods’ with non-white partners… They are so ‘special’ that nobody who’s not also white can touch them, flirt with them, date them. And when such a relationship exists, it’s seen as abnormal, ‘black magic,’ ‘santeria.’”

The saddest situation came from the comments that discussed that Thorsten and Naparuj's relationship was a calculated interest because Naparuj is a creator director at a model agency and Thorsten would, obviously, be the hot german model. Thorsten is in reality an engineer working for an industrial equipment manufacturer. 

Shortly after this incident, Naparuj wrote a message on his Instagram "Thank you very much for all the help and all the positive thoughts. To be honest, I wasn’t that surprised when out of the blue, some people came to talk to me last night and showed me all our pictures that had been posted during the afternoon. That had happened before, exactly a year ago, and all the hateful comments brought me to tears and made me worry. This year, however, quite unexpectedly, Thorsten and I are feeling so grateful – surrounded by this wave of incredible support. We have never wanted to be in the spotlight, but thank you anyway."

Boarding back to Germany Thorsten also wrote to his boyfriend and shared it online: "Thank you so much for the wonderful time we had during this trip. Please take care of yourself and be well soon. I love you and am looking forward to start the next chapter of our lives together"

The couple's relationship could not be more evident, they fill their social pages with pictures of happy moments together, smiles and affection.