Imagine the picture above without the red-bolded accusation. It’s exactly what it looks like - a same-sex couple’s wedding photo. 

The Public Advocate of the United States, an SPLC-classified anti-gay hate group, took the photo off of The Gay Wedding Experience, a blog run by Brian Edwards, one of the men in the photo. The picture is from Edwards’ wedding to husband Tom Privitere two years ago.

The hate group cut out Edwards and Privitere from the photo, pasted them into a Colorado setting, added an aggressive line about the state senator seeking reelection (because she supports civil unions), and then mailed it to thousands of people. 

“I want to share what this picture means to me,” Edwards wrote in reaction. “It represents my first home away from home, my beloved NYC, which at the time this image was taken (2 years ago) did not allow same sex couples to marry. It represents my longterm relationship with my best friend, my partner, and now husband – the love we share and obstacles we have overcome. It is a reminder of the happiness I felt the day he proposed to me and of the excitement I had all throughout our engagement. It represents hope and it represents love. Or at least it did.”

The Post reports that the Public Advocate refuses to apologize and claims that even though the photo is copyright protected, it can do with it as it pleases — since others have supposedly done the same with their copyrighted images.

I’m in shock. Of all the low-life things to do to hurt LGBT people, this group took an actual photo of one of the happiest days in a couple’s life and defiled it, sending it into the universe as an image of hatred and revulsion. I can’t imagine the humiliation this couple has to deal with as a result of one hate group’s abominable actions. There is nothing right about this.