Last week, the internet-famous New York City street photographer Brandon Stanton posted a poignant picture of an unnamed young boy sharing his fears about being gay.
“I’m homosexual and I’m afraid about what my future will be and that people won’t like me,” the boy told Stanton for his wildly popular Humans of New York project.
Stanton takes photos of people around New York, and posts the photos on his website and social media feeds, along with a quote from the subject. With 13.8 million Facebook followers, his posts often travel far on the internet. But this one has been exceptional: With more than 600,000 likes, it was shared more than 58,000 times from the Facebook page.
It also caught the attention of a few celebrities—among them US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Clinton wrote:
Prediction from a grown-up: Your future is going to be amazing. You will surprise yourself with what you’re capable of and the incredible things you go on to do. Find the people who love and believe in you – there will be lots of them. –H
Clinton’s outspoken support of the LGBT community is relatively new; her new Instagram was full of supportive posts after the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage in the US last month, but she expressed opposition to gay marriage as recently as three years ago.
Her comment on the already-popular Facebook photo is likely to reach millions of American voters (her comment alone has received 72,535 likes so far). The Clinton campaign declined to comment on her Facebook response, other than to say that since it is signed with an “H” it was directly written by the candidate, not by a staffer.
Clinton was not the only famous person to respond. Ellen Degeneres, who frequently uses her daytime talk show as a platform to advocate for LGBT children and anti-bullying initiatives, wrote: “Not only will people like you, they’ll love you. I just heard of you and I love you already.”
Others shared their own stories and had inspiring messages for the unnamed boy.
When I was growing up, being gay was the only way I defined myself. I wasn’t kind or intelligent or funny. I was just gay. And I let the world zero in on that one filter of me. Now that I’m (more) grown up, I’ve understood that I’m so much more than just homosexual. And learning to see myself as a kind, intelligent, and occasionally funny man – who incidentally is also gay – has had an incredibly healing effect on me. My advice in short: don’t focus on being gay or not gay. Focus on being a great human being, and you’ll love yourself all the more for it. Big big hug, little guy!
Patrick Dunne’s long comment ended with:
So, to this kid, I say DON’T WORRY, and BE PATIENT. The world is different, now. There are still groups like the one I went to, except they’re in schools (Gay Straight Alliances), and they’re changing EVERYTHING. You and me and those like us now live in a world that has lost its ability to erase us. We exist, we are all shapes and sizes, all colours and all creeds. And we welcome you. We welcome you to a community that fought tooth and nail, through blood, sweat and tears to give you a shot at a peaceful existence in which you are capable of and WILL find happiness, and romance, and friends who will love all of you just the way you are.Be brave. Hang in there. You are not alone.We are here, and so are you.
The boy now has a whole community to reach out to, including Cat Mann.
Oh sunshine I have been there. I was terrified too. Up until I was in my 20’s If someone had offered me a straight pill I would have taken it. Not now though. Once I began accepting myself and being fully open about me I started to enjoy my life. The LGBTQ community is a great supporting place to be a part of. I have a beautiful wife, we bought our first home this week and have started the adoption journey. You are already loved and accepted by so many. It’s time for you to love and accept you. You can message anyone of these people to talk if you ever need to. That includes me.
The reaction underlines an important point: that while nationwide marriage legalization is a huge step, young people still face bullying and harassment, and need support.
Quartz has reached out to Stanton about the popularity of the post, and to ask whether he has talked to the boy or his family since it went viral. We’ll update this post with any response.