A little boy's heartbreaking letter to Santa Claus has gone viral after he asked to be loved.
The youngster, named Will, penned the emotional letter to Father Christmas and rather than asking for toys or games, simply asked that he be loved just the way he is.
The letter was one of many posted to the Operation Santa website which shares real letters written by children.
Will's letter reads: "Dear Santa, do you support the LGBTQ community?
"And if you can speak to God can you tell him I love him and [ask] if he loves me for being gay?
"Thank you. Love, Will."
His message was shared on Twitter by a user named Nancy, who captioned her post: "This letter to Santa broke my heart."
Her tweet went viral, garnering over 200,000 likes and over 22,000 retweets.
One person replied: "Being a queer kid is so difficult. I hope this little boy knows that God does love him no matter what."
Another added: "Alright, I'm gonna go cry."
"This hurts my heart so much. I hope Will and all the other little LGBTQ+ babies know (and get told) they're so, so loved," said another.
Other users couldn't resist sharing more letters from Operation Santa and they were equally as devastating.
One boy named Almir wrote about his mother passing away from cervical cancer and described how hard it was for his whole family.
He asked Father Christmas to help his loved ones this Christmas and also requested a warm coat and gloves, as the weather was getting colder.
A little girl named Kayla asked Santa to bring her parents a bed, as they live in a one-bedroom apartment and her parents sleep on a sofa.
She said she didn't want them to wake up with "back pain" any longer as her dad works "a lot" and the "pain stresses him out".
Several other children begged Santa to help with money for household bills as their mums and dads were struggling, with a boy named Julian asking if they could have WIFI so he could study at home and his dad could "look up his brother's grades" online.
