In recent years, the LGBT community has been making some groundbreaking advances, with 26 states in the US recognising same-sex marriage, Texas getting its first openly transsexual homecoming King and a large number of individuals identifying as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or queer coming out of the closet, thanks to the #comingout campaign launched by social networking app Moovz in honour of the Coming Out Day 2014.
However, the most remarkable recognition for the LGBT community in recent times came with the document issued by the Vatican Church, which states that gay people have "gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community" and should be welcomed by the church.
While the bishops were clear that the church would not abandon its teachings on marriage as defined between a man and a woman, the 12- page report acknowledged that "homosexual unions" often provide "mutual aid to the point of sacrifice" for each partner in the relationship under the passage "Welcoming homosexual persons".
The report also said that the church will pay "special attention" to children of gay couples and that there are "positive aspects of civil unions and cohabitation", which shows a dramatic shift from the traditional Christian teachings.
The report released on Monday, provides a summary of a week of closed-door discussions held among 200 bishops, cardinals and priests with Pope Francis.
Unsurprisingly, the LGBT community is quite thrilled with Pope's sentiments and has taken to the social media to thank him with the trend #ThankYouPope.
Propagating the LGBT movement further, Moovz's #ComingOut campaign was also able to motivate hundreds of celebrities and Moovz users to share their story with the community, which was created for "gay users with shared interests and like-minds to connect in real-time".
The campaign has had a wide-ranging impact, with people like Nakshatra Bagwe, a gay actor from India, joining in to share his coming out story with the world via Moovz.
"I was 16 when I sat down in an Internet café and typed the words "I am a boy and I like boys" into Google. Until then I'd never heard of the term 'gay' and had no clue what it meant" says Bagwe.
The Indian legislation still upholds the archaic Section 377 of the IPC, according to which sexual intercourse "against the order of nature", which includes homosexual intercourse, is banned.
A touching video of YouTube celebrity and Gay rights activist Davey Wavey, who collaborated with Moovz, surprising his fan and a Mormon Gay teen from Texas has gone viral and has inspired many to come out.
Davey Wavey, along with his friends and fellow YouTubers, Matthew Lush and Nick Laws, and Oriol Pamies, head of development at Moovz, visited Connor, after he revealed the touching story of living as a depressed gay LDS in the conservative southern state.
The touching video, which has gone viral, launched Moovz's initiative to encourage members of the LGBT community to share their own coming out stories with #ComingOut in celebration of national coming out day.
"Coming out can be a very difficult process, but it can also be a very liberating and freeing process, and we believe that coming out stories can unite and empower any gay individual out there" Chris Salvatore, gay actor and Moovz Ambassador in US explains.
