This photo of a kid single-handedly trying to keep 11,000 antigay protesters from marching is taking the internet by storm.

“At first I thought the child was only playing,” says photographer and journalist Manuel Rodriquez, the man who captured this image of a 12-year-old boy stepping out in front of a crowd of 11,000 people protesting Mexico’s proposed same-sex marriage law.

The photographer gave an interview to publication Regeneración and says he asked the boy why he stepped out in front of the crowd. His response? “I have an uncle who is gay. And I hate that people hate.”

Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto has introduced legislation that would make marriage equality legal throughout the country.

National Front for the Family was the group that organized the march. The group opposes marriage equality and says it has collected more than 10,000 signatures against the proposal.

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