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People are loving how these soccer fans trolled Russia using their countries' jerseys.

Russia has an abhorrent track record on LGBTQ rights.

While the country technically decriminalized homosexuality after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia took a sharp turn right when President Vladimir Putin's 2013 legislation cracking down on "nontraditional" relationships went into effect. The intentionally vague law bans public demonstrations that aim to expand LGBTQ rights and it prohibits the distribution of LGBTQ-themed material to minors.

In other words, you won't see too many rainbow flags flying around Moscow.

An LGBTQ rights activist gets arrested by Russian police in 2013. Photo by Andrey Smirnov/AFP/Getty Images.

But Russia was in the midst of hosting the World Cup. And fans from across the globe flocked there to watch the matches — and some sent a striking political message while they were at it.

Six activists from six different countries trolled Russia with a clever display of rainbow colors.

Wearing the soccer jerseys of their native countries, activists from Spain, Holland, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia strolled around Russia discreetly flaunting LGBTQ pride and snapping pics along the way.

The Spanish activist (red), the Dutch activist (orange), the Brazilian activist (yellow), the Mexican activist (green), the Argentinian activist (blue), and the Colombian activist (purple). All photos by Javer Ties, courtesy of The Hidden Flag.

The project, dubbed The Hidden Flag, was launched by a Spanish organization called La Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gais, Transexuales, y Bisexuales (FELGTB).

The federation devised the The Hidden Flag project with help from creative agency LOLA MullenLowe and production company Primo Content.

FELGTB, whose name translates to the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transexuals, and Bisexuals), claims to be Spain's largest LGBTQ rights organization. So it was only natural that it wanted to send a bold message to Russia and the rest of the world by "infiltrating the rainbow flag and defying the current [Russian] law."

Using the hashtag #TheHiddenFlag, people from around the world cheered on the demonstration.

One particularly viral tweet sharing pics of the effort amassed an incredible 270,000 likes, as of this writing.

The motivation behind the colorful photos, however, paints a dark reality.

Citing a study from the Center for Independent Social Research, FELGTB noted that hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ community have doubled since Russia's 2013 anti-gay law went into effect. What's more, Russia has allowed Chechnya — a semi-independent state within its jurisdiction — to enforce a "gay purge" targeting queer men with imprisonment, torture, and even death.

"Becoming visible is a huge risk in Russia," FELGTB President Uge Sangil said in a statement.

"But doing it in front of thousands of fans and reporters during the World Cup and with this smart and original protest is what really motivated us."

"The Hidden Flag gives visibility to ALL of the brave people who face discrimination, silencing, and fear on a daily basis in Russia and other parts of the world were LBGTI people are persecuted, humiliated or marginalized," Sangil continued.

Until every LGBTQ person is treated with respect and dignity — no matter where they happen to live — we have work to do.

Learn more about The Hidden Flag and the activists who brought it to life.

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Help is on the way for a desperate mom who couldn't find size 23 shoes for her teenage son

Her son Eric Kilburn Jr. is a 6'10" freshman in high school.

via GoFundMe

A size 21 Nike shoe made for Tacko Fall.

A local reporter at Hometown Life shared a unique and heartfelt story on March 16 about a mother struggling to find shoes that fit her 14-year-old son. The story resonated with parents everywhere; now, her son is getting the help he desperately needs. It's a wonderful example of people helping a family that thought they had nowhere to turn.

When Eric Kilburn Jr. was born, his mother, Rebecca’s OBGYN, told her that he had the “biggest feet I’ve ever seen in my life. Do not go out and buy baby shoes because they’re not gonna fit,’” Rebecca told Today.com. Fourteen years later, it’s almost impossible to find shoes that fit the 6’10” freshman—he needs a size 23.

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Opie the Pit Bully|TikTok

Dog does the 'pick a card' challenge and it's adorable.

There are a few kinds of dog parents: ones that only have outside dogs, those who have inside dogs but they're absolutely not allowed on the furniture and dog parents who treat their dog as if they birthed them themselves and give them every luxury invented for four-legged fur children.

Clearly, people are going to have feelings one way or the other about dogs and their place within a household, but I think everyone can agree that seeing a dog be pampered will always be adorable. Opie the Pit Bully is one of those lucky doggos who wound up living in the lap of luxury, and the pooch got to do a "pick a card" day to showcase that his owner loves him the mostest.

In a video uploaded to TikTok by Opie's owner because...ya know, opposable thumbs and all…Opie is faced with two cards that he can't read: 1) because he's a dog, and 2) because the cards are facing toward the camera. That doesn't stop the sweet puppers from playing along, though.

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Korean mom has a perfect response to the teacher who called her son's lunches 'disgusting'

Good for her for standing up for her child's culture.

via Roman Harak/Flickr

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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90-year-old tortoise is a hero to his species by becoming a first-time dad to 3 hatchlings

Way to go, daddio!

Photo by David Cadenas on Unsplash

What we imagine the look on Mr/ Pickles' face to be after becoming a dad.

It’s been an exciting time for a couple of tortoises at the Houston Zoo—and really, for tortoises everywhere.

The zoo announced on its blog that their oldest resident, Mr. Pickles, a 90-year-old radiated tortoise, and his 53-year-old companion Mrs. Pickles (that’s quite an age gap there sir, but no judgment) recently welcomed three new hatchlings.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any better, here are the new baby names: Dill, Gherkin and Jalapeño.

Clearly, Jalepeño is the spicy one of the bunch.

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100-year-old woman's speech against book bans in Florida school district goes viral

Grace Linn speaks for millions of Americans.

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Grace Linn, 100, speaks at a Martin County School Board meeting on March 21, 2023.

Four hundred years ago, copies of William Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible were publicly burned by the bishop of London, with church authorities insisting that the Bible should only be read in Latin (and only by the clergy). In the centuries since, many books we now consider classics such as Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe," Jack London's "Call of the Wild," Walt Whitman’s "Leaves of Grass," Victor Hugo’s "Les Misérables, Charles Darwin’s "Origin of Species"—even Beatrix Potter's "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "Benjamin Bunny"—have been banned or censored in one way or another in various countries.

Battles over books are nothing new, but once in a while, they become particularly ugly or absurd, prompting people to speak out against book bans.

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Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler have the cutest friendship, and she has the receipts to prove it

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The Tonight Show/ Youtube

Jennifer Aniston appearing on "The Tonight show"

Let’s face it, platonic relationships between men and women rarely get the same amount of attention as romantic ones, to the point where we debate whether or not they can actually exist in the first place.

That’s what makes a clip of Jennifer Aniston gushing about her decades-long friendship with Adam Sandler so cool to watch. There’s no Harry-Met-Sally-ing here, just one pal talking about another pal.

Aniston sat down with Jimmy Fallon to promote the film “Murder Mystery 2,” starring both Aniston and Sandler, but the conversation quickly veered into several anecdotes about “The Sand Man,” including how the two first met at a deli in their 20s.

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