JEN ANDERSON SCHATTUCK’S three-and-a-half-year-old son enjoys wearing tutus.
He wears them to the church, to the supermarket and on the train. Why?
If asked, he will say the tutus make him feel beautiful and brave. If asked, he will say there are no rules about what boys can wear or what girls can wear.
Last week, Schattuck was out and about with her little boy when a stranger approached her and asked why her son was wearing a tutu.
We didn’t know him, but he appeared to have been watching us for some time. “I’m just curious,” the man said. “Why do you keep doing this to your son?”
The man addressed the boy directly, telling him, “She shouldn’t keep doing this to you,” and allegedly took photos of them.
Schattuck reported the rather horrible incident to the police who, she wrote, complimented her son’s skirt. And now she’s making it clear that neither she nor her family will tolerate such hatred.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154461885001719&set=a.10151548199751719.548232.590086718&type=3&theater
In a defiant Facebook status, Schattuck wrote, “I will not be intimidated. I will not be made to feel vulnerable or afraid. I will not let angry strangers tell my son what he can or cannot wear. The world may not love my son for who he is, but I do. I was put on this earth to make sure he knows it.”
I will shout my love from street corners. I will defend, shouting, his right to walk down the street in peace, wearing whatever items of clothing he wants to wear.
I will show him, in whatever way I can, that I value the person he is, trust in his vision for himself, and support his choices—no matter what anybody else says, no matter who tries to stop him or how often.
She concluded the status with this motto:
The status has since been shared over 48,000 times and now people are sharing photos of themselves wearing tutus under the hashtag #TutusForRoo.
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Absolutely wonderful.
