Couple recreates photo taken at their 1st pride march 24 years ago

Nicholas Cardello and Kurt English remember the way it was.

ByABC News
June 22, 2017, 6:02 PM

— -- One married couple has lit up the internet after recreating a photo they took at a gay pride march in 1993.

Nicholas Cardello and Kurt English met in 1992 at a Dignity Mass, a church service led by Dignity, the largest LGBT Catholic organization in the U.S.

"We met on Easter," Cardello, 54, recalled to ABC News. "And we were introduced by a priest friend of ours who was leading the mass."

Neither one ever asked the other to officially be boyfriend and boyfriend.

"From the day we met, we just fell into a pattern. We never even thought about being apart. We just continued to live our lives together. It was unbelievable," Cardello recalled.

PHOTO: Nicholas Cardello and Kurt English at the1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation in Washington, D.C.
Nicholas Cardello and Kurt English at the1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation in Washington, D.C.

English, 52, remembers that their first trip as a couple was to the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, held in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 1993.

"We were just really intrigued at the prospect of being part of something that was historic and historic it was," he continued. "For the first time in my life, I did not have to be guarded. I did not have to be concerned about holding my husband's hand or putting my arm around him. And that meant a lot."

As the Tampa, Florida, couple prepared to head back to Washington earlier this month for the Equality March for Unity and Pride, Cardello dusted off a photo the two took at the 1993 march. After making it his cover profile photo on Facebook, a friend suggested they recreate the photo on June 11.

PHOTO: Nicholas Cardello and Kurt English of Tampa, Florida have been together for 25 years.
Nicholas Cardello and Kurt English of Tampa, Florida have been together for 25 years.

When they did, a stranger took the couple's photos and put them on Twitter. They quickly went viral with more than 165,000 retweets and over 640,000 likes.

"We have no idea who he was," Cardello said of the Twitter user that made them go viral. "I tried to thank him but he never responded."

Still -- the couple who wed in 2008 in Boston, and again in their home state of Florida in 2015 -- said they're using their newfound attention to educate.

"It’s not about us. It’s about helping the next generation," English said. "It's a time to celebrate, but there's still work to be done."

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