An openly gay high school football player in St. Louis got support from his classmates on Monday after members of the Westboro Baptist Church showed up to protest him. Supporters used #StandWithJake to share their messages for Jake Bain, a senior at John Burroughs School.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson speaks with Bain about why he thinks the church targeted him, the support he's received and the message he hopes his story sends to the LGBTQ community.

"This is so much bigger than just me," Bain says. "There's just so many people out there that are going through the same things that I'm going through. So I just hope that a light is kinda shed on the entire community, especially the youth."

"I think my biggest fear has been that people will see this as just a special situation, and they won't realize that this is going on everywhere around the country." Read more via WBUR