So basically I was involved in a conversation with a few friends , and a lesbian couple with a baby in a buggy walked past us. The kid was a little boy, with his hair spiked up and converse on. However the couple had dressed him in a pink outfit with the word "fabulous" across the tee. One of my (lgbt) friends made the comment "I would never do that to my child. I'm proud to be gay and all that - but when homophobes argue that we would try to influence our kids into being gay and "bring them up gay" - that couple are basically doing just that. " Then another of my friends retaliated with " but its fine for straight parents to dress their babies in gender specific outfits, surround them with fairy tales about straight couples, bombard them with the idea of wife and husband, boyfriend and girlfriend, never address the issue of "lgbt" unless they have to etc etc etc - are they not in fact bringing up their children straight? The world brings up children straight. And although I don't think we should be "gaying" up our babies - its pretty hypocritical to say that couple are any different than a couple walking past with their baby girl in a flowery dress pushing a buggy made by "Mamas and Papas" - what do you guys think of this convo?? I was kind of stunned hearing it because I'd never properly thought about the issue in this sense.
Um, your friend isn't to decide how that couple raises their child. I agree with the friends that retaliated in that we are literally bombarded with heterosexual propaganda several times a day, without realizing it. I like seeing that the parents are allowing their child to grow up however he wishes, and not by some arbitrary standards that society has set in place. Why does it matter what the child wears? Will that hinder him from being an active member of society? I think not...
I've heard of gender-neutral parenting, which means that there's either no gender-specific toys and clothes or a mixture of boys' and girls' stuff, and I think I'll raise my kid(s) in that way. Now that pink is a gender neutral colour – like it rightfully should be – I see no problem with dressing a boy in it. Heck, one of the guys at my school wears pink all the time and it suits him. I think your second friend has a point. And even if a couple were bringing up their kid gay, what's the global percentage of gays? 3%? Less? More likely than not, that kid'll be either panromantic or incredibly tolerant.
I didn't give it much thought before, but now that I have, I agree with ELPANACHEVERE. Why would it matter if we dress our babies up in colors typically thought of as being the opposite gender. It's not going to stop them from being normal people in this day and age. and your friend doesn't have a right to judge them. no one has the right to judge anybody. we should know that most of all, after being judged, and being told the judgement is against our favor. Their judgment doesnt matter. We are people who should be free to do what we wish. Everybody should be.
I for one will not allow my children to be exposed to those filthy heterosexuals and their alternate lifestyle.
"When you have kids, you can raise them in whatever cowardly way you want." Living ones life in fear is bad. Raising your children a certain way because you fear what the "homophobes" think is just wrong. What kind of role model are you when you can't even be who you are out of fear of other people's beliefs? Maybe I expect too much of parents. With that said, I intend to raise my kids as gender neutral as possible. I don't want bigots for kids. If I still live in Texas when I have them, there is always that I could end up with "those kids."
I would try to be gender-neutral or try to give them the idea of that "the only thing a guy can do that a girl can't is pee standing up and the only thing a girl can do a guy can't is be pregnant" I don't if that is word perfect and I can't remember who said it but I agree with them. By addressing the LGBT issue with young children you are basically dragging them into their parents fights which is an issue but not telling them is. Did any of that make sense?
I agree with this side of the argument 100%. I forgot to say though that the kid was only a few months so the first friend probably thought it was different than if the child wanted to wear it? But still I agree we are brought up in a world that brings all children up straight, hence the need to come out ---------- Post added 19th Aug 2014 at 07:50 PM ---------- ^ sinners
Yes I get what you mean! And that's a brilliant quote (whether it's the correct wording or not) very true. For me, Until my kids say they want to wear a dress or a tee that's says something or a colour they like etc - I will dress them in a mix of any clothing that is comfortable to run around and explore and enjoy being a kid in. As for colour, pink and blue for both sexes- all colours. Because I don't associate a colour with any gender at all. Plus it was originally meant to be in reverse! Pink was originally for boys and blue for girls, so this shouldn't define anything !
