The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. February 17, 2014 Michael Sam Supporters Form Human Barrier to Block Anti-Gay Protest -------------------------------------------------------------------- In the United States, students at the University of Missouri formed a human barrier to silently block a protest by the right-wing extremist Westboro Baptist Church against football player Michael Sam, who recently announced he is gay. Wearing "Stand with Sam" pins, hundreds of Sam's supporters lined up along the sidewalk near the campus football arena. University of Missouri sophomore and protest organizer Kelaney Lakers spoke to local news station KRCG. Kelaney Lakers: "We’re both Christians. The thing is God is love. What they are doing is hateful, but being hateful is a sin. We’re also supposed to show love to them." Sam is poised to become the first openly gay player in the NFL. .