A Texas bakery faced a backlash for its Pride-themed cookies. But then the allies showed up.

Confections, a bakery in the small town of Lufkin, Texas, is a wonderful example of why hate is no match for the power of acceptance, pride, and love.
Confections posted an innocuous photo of Pride-themed cookies on its Facebook page on Wednesday with the positive message of "More LOVE. Less hate. Happy Pride to all our LGBTQ friends! All lovers of cookies and happiness are welcome here."
But evidently, some are bothered by the idea of having "less hate" so a "significant" number of followers disliked Confections' Facebook page after the post. One customer went so far as to cancel a large order of five-dozen summer-themed cookies that had already been baked.
The small business was going to have to take a loss on the large order if no one stepped up to purchase the cookies.
"My heart is heavy," one of the owners wrote on Facebook. "Honestly I never thought a post that literally said more love less hate would result in this kind of backlash to a very small business that is struggling to stay afloat and spread a little cheer through baked goods."
After the small business made the post, the internet got wind of it and the summer-themed cookies were sold out immediately. Then, a line quickly formed around the block and the massive influx of customers cleaned out every shelf in the business.
But it didn't stop there, the next day it happened again. So, the store began baking more LGBTQ-themed cookies and its shelves were cleaned out again. When there was nothing left to purchase, customers pre-ordered cookies to send to nursing homes and civic events.
Others sent direct donations to the shop that the owners are going to send to local animal shelters.
The response has been overwhelming for the shop's owners Dawn and Miranda and their baker Felicia.
"In the 11 years we've been open we've never seen anything quite like this," Dawn wrote, adding they "are just so humbled and grateful and moved by this outpouring of love."
On Sunday, the store reported that it was hard at work making rainbow bows to celebrate Pride and baking the nursing home orders.
One Facebook commenter perfectly summed up the overwhelming reaction to Confections' story. "For every nasty and hateful person, there are 2,500 or more that are amazing and loving," Kimberly Gonzalez wrote.
"Your shop looks amazing and the hate and heartache you experienced was for a purpose," she added. "It brings me so much joy that you are receiving this amount of support. Keep doing what you love and supporting who you want. You are all amazing people and wish you all the prosperity for you and your business."
One of the most important aspects of Pride Month is visibility, but that's not limited to members of the LGBTQ community. It's a month for everyone who supports them to renew their commitment to visibility as well. For some, that's showing up to a Pride parade, for others, it's supporting allied businesses.
The story of Confections bakery is a wonderful example of Pride in action.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.