A Young Boy Faces Down Hate

While a lot of us kvetch and moan, and whine and cry and stomp our feet against injustice, we could all learn a thing or two from a 12-year-old boy who stood in the street and tried to stop thousands of anti-gay protesters from marching against same-sex marriage in Mexico over the weekend.

Why did he do that?

“I have an uncle who is gay, and I hate people that hate.”

That's what he told photographer Manuel Rodríguez who snapped that picture of the boy, his arms outstretched in front of the mass of demonstrators protesting against resident Peña Nieto proposal change the country’s constitution to allow same-sex marriage nationally.

Marriage equality is legal in Mexico City as well as 10 of the country’s 31 states, and just last year Mexico’s supreme court said that laws restricting marriage to a man and woman were unconstitutional. Still, many state legislatures have failed to act upon the ruling and so President Peña Nieto has called on Congress to address the debate in order to settle the issue for good across the country.

And a twelve-year-old stepped up to help.

Attitude