Inspirational Bystander
Inspiration has been found this holiday season from an innocent bystander. Jess Rodriguez recently proposed to Chelsea Miller at the Art Institue of Chicago. Jess’ brother Carlos shared a photo of the engagement on Twitter and the look of pure joy on the background woman’s face has been re-tweeted and liked over 400,000 times.
Plenty of people took to social media to congratulate Jess and Chelsea, sharing how the bystander’s reaction warmed their hearts. “Congrats to them both,” a woman named Lauren wrote. “And loving the reaction from the older lady in the background. What a wonderful thing to witness.”
Jess told BuzzFeed that she didn’t notice the woman was sitting there until she looked at their photos and said,”Whoever she is, we are so thankful of her pure reaction. She made our moment even more special!”
Unfortunately, fake GoFund Me pages have been set up in the couple’s names. Jess took to social media to warn the public and report these pages. As for the public’s request that the couple open a post office box for people to reach out, Jess said they don’t fee safe doing that. “As a same-sex couple we have received love and hate. We still feel unsafe to open a post office box and receive dangerous packages. I really hope you understand.” But Jess did thank everyone for the positive love and support and stated that they have chosen a date!
Congratulations to Jess and Chelsea! An thank you Ms. Bystander for the support to our community!
Tags: Art Institute of Chicago, Bystander, Chelsea Miller, Jess Rodriguez, LGBT, LGBT engagement, LGBTQ, LGBTQ engagement