Your child wants to tell you something, but doesn’t know how to talk about it, Parents, here’s what “straight pride” means to us. I have my daughter’s back, no matter what. Because I’ll be honest - I wear that shirt a lot,Īnd every time I put it on, I’m aware that it’s a declaration to the world that
Pride” could be a badge of honor as a proud dad, a proud mom, a proud friend,Īn ally to a whole community. Instead of being an indignant and vitriolic response to gay pride, “straight To create that safe space for my daughter.Īnd that got us talking about “straight pride,” and what To simply be themselves, and how little effort it had really taken on our part Shirt, I thought about how many kids, teens, and adults don’t have a safe space Talking to this woman whose father would never dream of wearing a “PROUD DAD” Possible for her to be the person she was meant to be. We take in knowing that we did everything we could to make it as easy as Raising a brave, resilient and deeply compassionate human being, and the pride Of a family therapy session, “I haven’t talked about this with anyone. Have been terribly subtle either, as I learned when she announced in the middle And as obvious as she may have been, I must not Would consider subtle (“When did Dave come out?” “What was it like for him?”),Īnd grilled me repeatedly about whether I thought certain family members andįriends might be homophobic. How she asked questions that only a 13-year-old Wanted to talk about, but just wasn’t ready yet. About how she kept saying there was something she The first time in the years we’ve been passing each other, we stopped and Shirt? That’s me - and my father would never wear that for me. “I just want to shake your hand,” she said. Stepped into my path and stuck out her hand. I had to pass her again on the way back to my car, but this time she Into the ground, and it clearly struck some sort of chord with this woman from Since my daughter publicly came out, I’ve worn this shirt With a note: “I didn’t know your daughter was part of the rainbow.” On Monday morning, the “PROUD DAD” shirt was sitting on my desk On the Boston Children’s team, we ran into my friend Hilary and her son, who is We weren’t able to stay for the parade, but on our way to meet my colleagues My daughter - 13 at the time - was “out” to my wife and me, but not yet out to It’s one of my favorites - a gift from a friend at work who Shirt” could go either way when referring to a black tee with big, block, It’s more open minded and inclusive than it actually is, so I felt like “nice We live in the kind of town that likes to think I thanked her and kept moving, trying to decide whether she As I passed her this time, she skipped the usual dialogue in favor of “nice shirt.”
She works at one of the stops on my weekend to-do list, so I see her pretty much every week and we smile, nod, and toss off a “how ya doin’?” in that way that people do when they see each other all the time but have never really gone past “how ya doin’?” Last week, we had our first real conversation and actually learned each other’s names, all because of a t-shirt. There’s a woman in my town who I know, but I don’t know. The Proud Dad with wife, Michelle, daughter, Sarah, and Snickers the dog at the Boston Pride Parade