Over the weekend, thousands of people in the Philippines attended the annual Pride march in Marikina City, east of the capital, Manila.
Upon entering Marikina Stadium, where the march ended, Jamilah Salvador, a 19-year-old from Cainta, was greeted by a group of Christians holding up signs apologizing for the ways Christians have harmed the LGBT community.
Salvador told BuzzFeed News that the sight made her super emotional, so she decided to take photos of the group and share them on Twitter.
Her tweet, along with tweets featuring the group by other attendees, went viral.
I literally cried when I saw this kanina. Imagine living in a society with nothing but love and respect for each other. 😢 #RiseUpTogether https://t.co/rL4rPaWHel
i cried so hard #RiseUpTogether
The best thing I have seen for Pride March 2018 ❤️ LOVE WINS!!!! ❤️💜💙💚🖤💛 #RiseUpTogether #loveyourself
People were really touched by the photos.
@JAMBIyutiful I feel like crying so hard right now. Oh my god.
@JAMBIyutiful i teared up when i saw this 😭 ❤️
@JAMBIyutiful My little gay heart is crying 😭Wishing my Christian fam would think this way one day. Happy pride! 🏳️🌈
@JAMBIyutiful As both a Catholic and a bisexual, this is literally all I’ve ever wanted. I could cry.
A lot of people praised the group for how progressive they felt it was.
@JAMBIyutiful These are such brave beautiful people to be willing to change and grow and apologize in a climate of fear and loss. Not just covering up the choices you've made but owning up to them is one of the hardest choices you can make.
This is progress, a step in the right direction https://t.co/Tp76werHJc
And they thought that this was what Christianity was all about.
This is what REAL Christianity looks like. The Bible preaches Love and acceptance of ALL ❤ https://t.co/mxBFKr4SOU
This is how it's supposed to be. This is a great example of how we as christians are called to be accepting and understanding not judgemental or hateful . Keep doing what you're doing👌 https://t.co/3mQHKQZ9QK
The group is from the Church of Freedom in Christ Ministries (FICM), an Evangelical and Pentecostal church in Makati.
Val Paminiano, the pastor at FICM, told BuzzFeed News that he and members of his church have been attending pride marches for about four years now as part of their "I'm Sorry" campaign.
"We are apologizing for the way Christians have hurt the LGBT community, especially by using the Bible in condemning and judging them," Paminiano said.
"I used to believe that God condemns homosexuals, but when I studied the scriptures, especially the ones that we call 'clobber scriptures' that are being cherry-picked from the Bible to condemn LGBT people, I realized that there's a lot to discover, including the truth that God is not against anyone," Paminiano said. "God does not discriminate against people based on gender."
He said that he hoped other Christians would stop using scriptures to condemn the LGBT community because it was keeping them away from the church and from Jesus.
"We pray that more and more Christians will act, speak, and love the LGBT people like Jesus would," he said.