Black gay dads defend viral photo in new commercial: 'They don't know our lifestyles'

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Last year, a photo of two gay fathers,  Kordale and Kaleb Lewis, went viral.  Today, the couple and their three children are starring in a heartwarming commercial for Nikon.

The couple, who live in Atlanta, tell their story as part of Nikon’s I am Generation Image campaign.

Last year, Kordale and Kaleb were shocked when a photo of them doing their daughters’ hair went viral.

“What happened was, we were in the bathroom doing the girls hair and I said, ‘oh let me take a picture.’ It was simple, innocent picture… and then next thing you know it went viral. I’m still amazed today,” Kordale explained.

The responses to the photo were both positive and negative, with a good helping of racism and homophobia.

“The comments were a trip,” Kaleb added. “It didn’t make me feel any way because I know they don’t know what we go through. I know they don’t know our children. They don’t know our lifestyles, they don’t know how we live. A picture is so much more than a thousand words.”

Kordale and Kaleb hope the images that they share of their family reveal how much their family is just like everyone else’s.

“I think this camera, as we grow and as the family grows, will better be able to explain to everybody what type of family we are. We as parents bring kids into the world and we have to guide them to be better people than we are, and we want them to be better people than we are. We want them to succeed and do things that we weren’t able to do. Those kids have our heart.”