A Scottish professor who posted an image of himself and his Ghanaian wife to show that love conquers racism has seen the adorable photograph go viral.
Hundreds of interracial couples have responded to 64-year-old Professor John Struthers thanking him for the ‘inspirational’ image, which sees the academic stood next to his wife of more than 40 years, Justina.
Prof Struthers said that while their love has never ‘wavered’, they had faced racist comments throughout their relationship including ‘we are full’.
Professor John Struthers, 64, from Scotland, posted this photograph of himself with his Ghanaian wife Justina at the Queen’s garden party in the summer
Defiant: He attached an emotive post saying the couple’s love hadn’t ‘wavered’ in spite of comments on their interracial union
On Boxing Day, he posted the image on to his Twitter feed @jjstruthersuk writing: ‘I thought I would share. We’ve had disapproving looks, ‘we are full’, ‘is that your wife’ and many more actions questioning our relationship over the last 40+yrs.
He continued: ‘We haven’t wavered! The best way of fighting racism is living your life, standing tall and educating. #Diversity’
The photo, which sees Justina in colourful traditional Ghanaian clothes and the professor, who is the Honorary Consul for Ethiopia in Scotland, was taken at the Queen’s garden party in the summer.
It’s now been liked 65,000 times and prompted hundreds of tales of interracial love stories from other couples, many of whom said they hoped their own relationship would also endure four decades.
Other couples in interracial relationships have called Professor Struthers’ image inspirational and shared photos of their own love stories
@roman205 posted an image of himself and his partner saying: ‘No matter the colour, blood and heart is the same.’
@Michell99892458 added: ‘You can’t restrict your heart to just one color. It feels what it wants to feel.’
@noora7 added images of her wedding to her husband, writing: ‘Jewish-Muslim family here! Worth every minute, wouldn’t trade it for the world.’
Plenty of famous faces saw the tweet including David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, who wrote: ‘Beautiful couple. 40 years of marriage and not letting other people dictate the terms of it.’
Fellow Scot @TomTheProducer1 showed a stylish photo of himself and his wife, both in traditional clothes. He wrote: ‘Nice kilt @jjstruthersuk! Here’s my wife and I on our wedding day (I also wore a turban & sherwani for our Sikh ceremony). I hope we have at least 40+ years of unwavering unity too. Thanks for sharing!’
Another couple, under the handle @CasaJoya, said they’d experienced similar comments to Professor Struthers and his wife.
They wrote: ‘You are not alone we have had all sorts of things said to us. Now I know that people who are not happy in their own lives spend time analysing and pecking at what they can’t have.’
@jstands4jay shared the story of her grandmother, writing: ‘Total respect for you both. My nan was disowned by her family in the early 50s for marrying my grandad who originally came from Nigeria (she was from Co. Mayo)
‘She chose love over ignorance and bigotry and the rest is history #diversity’.