Straight Canadian Men Punked in Same-Sex Engagement Prank

Two straight men from Nova Scotia were shocked to learn that they were the subjects of a gay marriage prank.

A photo of the men appeared in a Halifax newspaper under the publication's engagement section and the men were portrayed as a same-sex couple who planned to marry, the Canadian news network CTV News reported.

The photo in the ad features the two young men, one with his arm around the other with the other, and the headline that reads: "Cooper - Rogers Engagement." The feature also includes the schools they attend and their parents' names.

The announcement, however, turned out to be a prank as Bobby Cooper, one of the men in the ad, said in a statement.

"The announcement was placed as a poorly thought out prank from a friend that I feel should not have been approved by the staff at The Chronicle Herald without checking with one of us first," Cooper said in the statement. "I am a strong proponent of equal marriage rights for the LGBT community, and hate having my name involved in a prank that could possibly be perceived as making a mockery of something that the community had to fight towards for so long in Canada."

Canada was one of the first countries in the world to legalize same-sex marriage and has a number of laws that give gay men and lesbians the same rights straight people have.

A number of LGBT activists were also upset by the prank.

"I think it's stupid. I think it's childish. I think it's lame," said Halifax Pride spokesperson Neville MacKay. Kevin Kindred of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project echoed MacKay's statements.

"It sort of trivializes the important work that's been done for same-sex couples and makes a joke out of it," Kindred told CTV Atlantic. "I don't think the community really takes very kindly to that." He added that although the LGBT community "is not humorless" the individual behind the prank did not think about the consequences that could occur.

"This clearly is not good for the guys involved. It's not good for the gay community. It's not good for anyone and it's just really juvenile and unfortunate," he said.