Jake Bain became a household name in St. Louis high school sports circles back in 2017, when he came out as gay while serving as team captain at John Burroughs School. Now he is suing the nonprofit that employed him for three years, alleging he was fired this year for refusing to stay quiet about his LGBTQ+ advocacy at work.
Bain filed a discrimination lawsuit in St. Louis Circuit Court alleging that Places for People, a St. Louis-based mental health services provider, fired him on March 6 after he repeatedly objected to a reduction in the organization's LGBTQ+ advocacy, according to his petition as reported by STLtoday.com. Bain alleges Places for People instead claimed he was fired for violating the organization's social media policy, though he said the nonprofit never specified which post, date or piece of content triggered the violation. Bain's path from Ladue football standout to nonprofit advocate has been well documented: he announced his decision to play football at Indiana State University during a speech at John Burroughs in Ladue on Dec. 20, 2017, and later appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, according to Outsports.
Workplace Changes Bain Calls a Direct Attack
According to the lawsuit, Places for People announced sweeping workplace changes in an email to employees in April 2025, ordering staff to remove diversity signs, flags and decorations from client-facing areas and to strip pronouns from email signatures and other organizational communications. The nonprofit also said it would no longer participate as an organization in regional Pride events, per the lawsuit as described by STLtoday.com. Bain described the changes as a direct attack on the queer community and said he opposed them, repeatedly communicating his disapproval to management.
Bain said he told the nonprofit's chief executive he would not participate in a marketing campaign for Places for People, a 485-employee nonprofit, and that Tony Hilkin, a regional president with Centerstone, did not want to lend his name and image to an organization no longer supporting the queer community. Bain also said he drafted an all-staff pro-LGBTQ+ message during Pride month and urged colleagues to speak up when policies failed to protect queer employees. He said management reprimanded him repeatedly in private over his advocacy before he was ultimately fired.
A Nonprofit's Pride Presence Fades From Public View
Places for People's retreat from LGBTQ+ visibility shows up in its own public records, per the reporting on the lawsuit. The nonprofit previously hosted a Pride barbecue at its Soulard campus and ran a booth at Soulard Pride along with a pre-parade party, and it appeared among Soulard Pride vendors listed in its 2023 annual report. But the organization does not appear on vendor lists published for 2025 or 2026.
The shift followed a corporate transition. Centerstone merged with Places for People within the two years before publication, and the nonprofit had earlier announced plans to partner with Brightli. Places for People said in February 2024 that it intended to partner with Springfield, Missouri-based Brightli, Inc., while continuing to operate independently under its existing name. At the time, the organization described itself as having approximately 360 employees and serving more than 2,800 people in ongoing services each year, though its own history page separately describes more than 360 employees and over 3,150 people served annually with an operating budget exceeding $33 million — figures that are not reconciled in the nonprofit's public materials. Places for People also said it and Preferred Family Healthcare together would serve more than 11,200 people, operate 29 clinical and residential locations across six counties and employ approximately 700 people in the St. Louis region. The organization traces its merger history back to 2011, when Places for People and Community Alternatives combined in what it called the first voluntary merger of behavioral health providers in Missouri.
Federal Funding Pressure on DEI Language
Places for People is funded largely by government sources: more than three-quarters of its $36.5 million in fiscal year 2024 revenue came from a Missouri Department of Mental Health contract, and it received $2.6 million in direct federal grants, per audited financial statements. The lawsuit's allegations arrive against a broader backdrop in which the Trump administration made federal funding for research and organizations dependent on recipients removing mentions of diversity, inclusion and equity from their work, a pressure point that nonprofits reliant on government contracts have had to navigate nationally.
Places for People's social media policy advises employees who publicly identify as affiliated with the organization to refrain from posting content reflecting views that differ from the system's mission, vision and values, or controversial views on sensitive federal or state topics. Bain alleges the policy was applied against him without the organization identifying what, specifically, he posted that violated it.
Centerstone's Response and the Legal Backdrop
Centerstone said it remains committed to maintaining a respectful, welcoming and supportive workplace for all people, but said it could not provide additional details because the matter is active litigation. Bain is currently under licensed clinical supervision in the process of becoming a fully-licensed behavioral health therapist, according to Outsports.
Missouri law offers some framework for how such claims can proceed. In a 2019 ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court held that discrimination based on sex stereotypes is a form of sex discrimination, which Missouri's Human Rights Act does prohibit, according to KCUR. Separately, the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations states that the Act makes it illegal to discriminate in employment because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, disability or age for workers 40 through 69; the agency's materials do not address how that framework applies to Bain's specific allegations.
Bain's activism long predates his nonprofit career. As a high school football player in 2018, he had already become a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, according to Outsports' earlier coverage, and more recent reporting has described him as centering LGBTQ+ people, youth and athletes in his work, including founding Ferguson Pride, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The lawsuit against Places for People now puts that advocacy at the center of a legal dispute over his firing.
