Cute relationship memes are par for the course when you're on social media, and it's not uncommon for meme accounts to use and repost photos that belong to other users. It's usually harmless — until an account steals a photo from a lesbian and proceeds to pass it off as an image of a straight couple.
On Saturday, the Twitter account @Relationship, which shares general quotes and photos about, well, relationships, posted a photo of someone's hand holding two debit cards, writing, "my bf n i got customized debit cards."
The problem, as other Twitter users pointed out, is that the photos on the debit cards clearly show two young women.
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my bf n i got customized debit cards? pic.twitter.com/vy50dZNkOW
— Relationships (@Relationship) September 24, 2017
And after receiving a direct message from someone, Alexa Willis, one half of the couple on the cards, found the tweet and immediately fired back.
um this is my gf and i and we are LESBIANS https://t.co/oOOmoygGEo
— Alexa (@lexababy_) September 24, 2017
Willis, 17, and her girlfriend, Noemi, 19, (who wished not to use her last name), are both living in Austin, TX, and have been together for a little over a year. Willis tells Refinery29 that Noemi had originally posted the photo on Twitter in April with the exact same caption, except of course, she wrote "gf" and not "bf."
"I was really upset at first knowing they changed it to 'boyfriend' when it's obvious we're both two girls," Willis says. "I was also upset this account didn't care to give me credit."
The @Relationship account doesn't allow users that they don't follow to send them a direct message, so other than her retweet, Willis hasn't been able to get in touch with them. She says that the account has not responded to her nor to anyone else calling them out, but we'd like to note that they have been tweeting regularly since the incident.
If she could get in touch with them, Willis says, "I would ask why they had to change the gender and why people can't just accept the gay community these days as is. They knew we were a gay couple and changed it to be heteronormative. Very frustrating."
"I just hope that one day society standards won't be set on the fact that a boy and girl relationship is the only one," she adds. "Love is love, and it should be shared between any gender."
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