An American teacher’s official White House photo with Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump has gone viral, thanks to his cheeky display of LGBTQI pride.

Nikos Giannopoulos met the US President and First Lady in the Oval Office in April after being named Rhode Island’s Teacher of the Year for 2017.

But rather than settle for a run-of-the-mill photo, Mr Giannopoulos decided to include a joyful celebration of his sexuality by brandishing a lacy black fan.

While Mr and Mrs Trump chose simply to smile at the camera, Mr Giannopoulos – sporting a rainbow pin, nose ring and necklace – caped it up with a tilted head, a sassy half-smile and his stylish accessory.

He shared the photo to his Facebook page on Friday and it soon amassed thousands of likes, shares and comments.

“Rhode Island Teacher of the Year 2017 meets the 45th President of the United States. That’s all,” Mr Giannopoulos captioned the photo.

The 29-year-old, who is a special education teacher, told America’s National Public Radio the fan belongs to his partner and represents “self-acceptance and being unabashedly myself in a society that’s not always ready to accept that.”

He said while Mr Trump was, ahem, a fan of the fan, he was at first instructed by Oval Ofice staffers to keep it out of sight during the photo opportunity.

“I was told I should put it away,” Mr Giannopoulos told NPR.

“But when it came time for the photo, I just asked the president, ‘Do you mind if I use the fan for the photo?’ He said, ‘Absolutely, go for it!’ So I popped my fan and did my pose.”

While a few Facebook comments have accused Mr Giannopoulos of being disrespectful, the vast majority have praised him for being unabashedly himself.

“I am going to look at this picture whenever I need a clear reminder of how to be awesome! Thank you for being yourself!” Facebook user Pamela Richardson said.