A Mom Defends her Young Son's Gender Expression
This past Halloween, a Kansas City mom has become the center of controversy after allowing her 5-year-old son “Boo” to dress up as the cartoon character Daphne from Scooby-Doo at a Halloween party. After dealing with comments from the other mothers, she decided to write a blog about her experience and titled it, “My Son is Gay.” Reading past the title, the first lines say, “Or he’s not. I don’t care. He is still my son. And he is 5. And I am his mother. And if you have a problem with anything mentioned above, I don’t want to know you.” Her post included a picture of him with the orange wig and pink shoes.
The woman, known only as “Nerdy Apple Bottom,” has continued to defend her decision to allow her son to express himself. Now the story has gone global, with news stations like CNN weighing in on not only her parenting skills but also this little boy’s sexuality. While most of the comments on her blog are supportive, there are some that question her outright labeling her son as gay.
She continues, “If you think that me allowing my son to be a female character for Halloween is somehow going to 'make' him gay then you are an idiot. Firstly, what a ridiculous concept. Secondly, if my son is gay, OK. I will love him no less. Thirdly, I am not worried that your son will grow up to be an actual ninja so back off.”
On the Today Show’s Sunday edition, Kathy Lee Gifford pointed out that most of the time when little girls dress up like Batman no one gives it a second look. It’s only when boys dress up like girls that controversy arises. This just goes to show that there is definitely a double standard when it comes to gender expression in our country. But maybe this is also a good sign because it has started a dialogue about what is acceptable, normal, and just part of being a kid.
After the mother’s phone interview on the show, one poster wrote, “I applaud you for letting your child be unique, imaginative and free from the constraints of our closed society. This is not a gender issue, this is not a gay or straight issue, this is a parenting issue and you have passed.”
My only hope is that one day when Boo is old enough to Google himself, he’ll see what a great Mom he has.
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