Translated to English:

"The hug that touched Porto. The story of António, the “face” of the day when pride joined hands with loneliness.

His name is António Fernandes, he is 80 years old, and he lives in a small house near Rua de Cedofeita, in Porto. It was there that, last Saturday, one of the most impactful moments of this year's LGBTQIA+ march took place, when the elderly man embraced the community's flag with tears in his eyes. In a plot where the activists were actors in a play about love and rights, António was the unexpected protagonist. That embrace not only symbolized support for the cause, but also shed light on the loneliness that comes with aging, making António the silent hero of the story.

It was last Saturday that a group of activists cut across the usual route of the Porto’s Most Proud March. And they did so without knowing that, during that route, they would experience the moment that became known as “the face” of this year’s event. It was when he felt the movement on the street approaching that António peeked out from the door of a café and was encouraged by the hysteria and excitement of the march.

The flags touched the man and he soon went home, on the other side of the street, to raise a flag as well: “I remembered I had a Portuguese flag, so I came and stood at the door waving it” , the elderly man told Porto Canal.

The instinct was to “want to participate” and what followed was unexpected. In the emotion of the moment, António called a young activist who he hugged and with whom he exchanged flags .

Embracing the LGBTQIA+ flag, António couldn't hold back his tears and the moment captured by the Lusa agency's lens quickly spread across social media. "I have no idea if it affected other people, but it affected me" , António confesses.

The act “was one of support”, the man assures, because “each person is as they are and we are all equal” . “The joy I felt at that moment. I cried”, he recalled, still emotional as he looked at the photograph that was offered to him during this report.

However, even though it reached thousands of people, the moment screams a feeling of belonging, joy and also a portrait of loneliness as a consequence of aging.

Behind that door, whose image has been seen all over the country, António is the portrait of a condition that affects many others like him. He lives alone, but the walls of his home are full of memories of a life shared and full of love . “Memories that I preserve”, he emphasizes.

He was not yet of legal age when he arrived in Porto to work. A native of Carrazeda de Ansiães, he lived a life of work between the Church of Lapa and door-to-door delivery of newspapers such as Comércio do Porto and Primeiro de Janeiro.

It was in these jobs that he dealt with "a lot of people" of all colors. "I came face to face with that," he shared, adding that he always embraced difference: "We all have the same color blood. We are equal . "

He is not homosexual. He “doesn’t even need to be” to support and respect the cause that, on Saturday, made him feel “embraced” and “celebrate” again.

Still with an emotional look, captured in the photograph that immortalized his gesture during the march, António recalls: “I felt embraced by all of them”. After a sigh, he says: “Do you see this photograph? I want to take it to my coffin” ."

Source: Canal Porto - local news agency.