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Hillary Clinton comments on viral photo of crying gay youth

Lindsay Deutsch
USA TODAY Network
This Oct. 2, 2013 file photo shows street portrait photographer Brandon Stanton, creator of Humans of New York.

A tearful young man crying about the uncertainties of being gay has just gotten the ultimate affirmation by none other than Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

"I'm homosexual and I'm afraid about what my future will be and that people won't like me," reads the caption on the widely-distributed portrait of a teen sitting on a stoop in a collared shirt and teal cardigan. The shot was taken by Brandon Stanton for Humans of New York, his popular and prolific photo series known to illustrate microcosms of emotion in America's most populous city.

Among the photo's more-than 500,000 Facebook likes and 50,000 shares from the Humans of New York Facebook page, the nameless youth had at least one big-name fan.

On July 3 at 12 p.m. EST, Clinton commented: "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"

The "H" indicates that Clinton herself left the comment, rather than someone on her team, and the comment's individual likes are inching toward 100,000.

While many Humans of New York photos go viral, this portrait gained early press not just due to topicality but because Facebook administrators initially deleted it, Jezebel reports.

"Seems that Facebook removed the young man's brave statement and is now preventing me from uploading any further photos. I'm hoping it was a mistake. It is currently still on Instagram and I'm trying to figure out how to get it back up," Stanton wrote on Facebook. The shot remained on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, and returned to the social media site shortly.

Close-up of Clinton's comment.
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