Best Parents Ever Turn Ugly Message of Hate Into a Literal Rainbow of Love (PHOTO)

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Clik here to view.This has to be one of the best lessons in turning things around we've seen in a while. When the DeLong family woke up to this homophobic graffiti scrawled on their garage door -- presumably directed to their two openly bisexual teenage daughters -- they were stunned.

"I was dumbfounded," Erin Kennedy DeLong tells Yahoo Parenting. "I realized someone had committed a hate crime at my house." How creepy! And it was her 17-year-old daughter, Miranda, who saw it first. In addition to supporting Miranda and her 14-year-old daughter, Emily, the DeLongs also welcome the girls' other LGBQT friends to their home. Ms. DeLong believes this message may have been intended to shame them.

But the perpetrator apparently doesn't know how gay pride works.

The family reported the hate crime to the police and started washing off the spray paint, but some of the original paint started coming off with it. "Some friends had suggested we repaint that part of the garage the colors of the rainbow or in glitter, and we thought the rainbow was a great idea," DeLong says.

More from The Stir: City Makes Sure Residents See Gay Pride Rainbow Everywhere They Walk

So everyone, including the DeLongs' 9-year-old son, painted a rainbow over their garage doors as a sign of support for Miranda, Emily, and their friends.

DeLong says she's just doing her job as a mother. "I'm supposed to be their biggest supporter," she told Yahoo.

But clearly DeLong is doing much more than support her daughters. She's also teaching them a powerful lesson in resilience and confidence. Being the target of a hate crime must feel horrible -- demoralizing and a little bit scary, too. But to come back and re-frame that harassment as a proclamation of pride shows how you can stand up to bullies in a very positive way.  

It's sad that someone out there thinks that being gay is shameful. This family thinks otherwise. You can't shame someone over something they're proud about.

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Image via Erin Kennedy DeLong/Facebook

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