Every child loves to dress up for Halloween. But for a gay Los Angeles couple, their son’s choice to wear a princess costume has them wondering if they should intervene. The 4-year-old boy presented a dilemma to his two moms, Anna and Louisa Villeneuve, who, despite their inner-activists, were unsure of how to respond to their son’s request.
“My first reaction was ‘He wants to be a princess? We’re there!’ ” said Anna. But as her and mom Louisa shared their thoughts with family and friends, a new predicament presented itself: would bullying and unfair teasing be okay on an ordinarily fun night like Halloween?
“It’s one thing to say ‘Son, you can be anything you want. Our society needs to be less uptight… I want to encourage him to stand up and be himself,” she said. “But my 4-year-old is too little and too fragile to know where the social boundaries are. And I don’t want his feelings hurt on what should be one of his happiest nights.”
The moms say their son, Luc, has been wearing princess attire throughout the year, and while adults have accepted the boy’s preferences, the little girls have not been as forgiving: “Boys can’t be princesses,” his classmates say.
The couple also worry about prejudices against them if they take Luc out as a princess, explaining, “I imagine that when those Glendorans shut their doors, they’re going to say ‘See, that’s why lesbians shouldn’t raise children,’” reported the Los Angeles Times.
But the moms insist that their sexual orientation have nothing to do with Luc’s choices. During prior Halloweens, their son donned a Jedi costume two years ago, and opted for a purple bat last year.
“My grandma was horrified when we posted pictures on Facebook of Luc in a princess dress with a tiara… She’s already anticipating that this is early-onset gayness. ‘How could you be encouraging this? It’s just not right!’ she says.”
