Father decks truck out in rainbows to support of marriage equality for his son

For eleven years, retired plumber Geoff Thomas from the Sydney suburb of Abbotsbury has been battling for marriage equality in Australia.

The country's politicians have stalled when it comes to progress on the matter, despite popular support, so Thomas has taken to his ute (a.k.a. pickup truck) to help push for support.

"I was talking to some people and said 'every man and his dog supports marriage equality.' [I] thought that would be a good slogan to put over my ute, so people can get the message as I drive around Sydney and elsewhere," Thomas explained via email.

Thomas was brought up to discriminate against LGBTQ people, but that all changed when Thomas' son, Nathan, came out to him.

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"When my son came out to me I was afraid of losing my son, so I asked myself what was it about gays that I did not like," Thomas explained. "After thinking it out I came to the conclusion that my dislike came down to unfounded fear, ignorance and prejudice."

Thomas gathered that his prejudice was a "state of mind," and that what he had been told about LGBTQ people while growing up wasn't true.

"After accepting that gays are born, not made, and accepting that I had helped to produce a gay son -- I felt deeply ashamed that I had been homophobic in my general life. I also came to appreciate that my son was not equal in law in his own country."

The brand new truck has drawn support from pro-marriage equality groups Australian Marriage Equality and PFLAG. It'll be driven as part of a tour around two states from Apr. 23 for a week, where Thomas will stop to speak to locals.

"I'm going to keep it on until we get it done," Thomas said.

"We know there's the numbers in parliament and if we can get the prime minister to grow a spine, or whatever it is, all the cliches, if he puts the thing in front of parliament -- we know it'll be done."

[h/t BuzzFeed]