Woman divides opinion for letting teenage son wear wedding dress to school
Nasima Khatun
Featured Image Credit: Paul Vinten/LightField Studios Inc./Alamy Stock Photo
A woman has divided the internet after she let her teenage son wear a wedding dress to school… for a heartwarming reason.
Taking to Reddit, user @Beautiful_Move7646 decided to ask if she was the ‘a**hole’ after she agreed to let her son wear her old wedding dress to school.
The mum explained how the request didn’t shock her as she added her son enjoys cross-dressing and will ‘often goes out in effeminate outfits’.
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This one had a purpose behind it though; her son wanted the favour because his friend got suspended for turning up to school in a crop top. In order to protest the decision, he wanted to show up in a statement piece that would be a lot more distracting, and what better way to do that than a wedding gown?
The mum agreed to his request as it wasn’t that big of a deal to her due to the fact that her now ex-husband was abusive so the dress didn’t have as much sentimental value. However, she did give him the condition that he couldn’t completely ruin it though.
But things took an upsetting turn after photos of the outfit started circulating on social media.
"My son went to school and apparently some kid took a picture of him and posted it on Instagram,” she explained. “It circulated to Facebook, where my parents saw the photo.”
The mum said that rather than being supportive and kind, "They cussed me out over the phone, saying I shouldn't allow 'f*****ts' in my house, that I need to get my son into a church and get him saved, and berated me for almost an hour. I am now the talk of the town and everyone thinks I am a horrible parent."
And their reaction was what prompted her to turn to Reddit to see if she’d made a mistake.
It’s fair to say users were pretty divided on the issue, but most of them left words of encouragement for the confused mum.
“Holy cow, I was all amused by the story ... until I got to the adorable ( /s ) response by the grandparents,” this user wrote. “100% NTA [not the a**hole] for the dress. On the other hand, I guess the response from your parents and ‘the town’ was to be expected.”
“NTA,” another agreed. “It’s your wedding dress, and I think it’s great that your son is mature enough to protest things he thinks is unjust without breaking rules or being obstructive or shouty.”
They added: “Your parents are abusive homophobes, though. How are you going to protect your son from them, and from the social media / small town gossip fallout among others like them, going forward?”
And another Reddit fan also left their thoughts for the mum saying: “Being a good parent is not about rejecting your child's choices but raising your child to be a responsible and productive member of society AND supporting him/her. Allowing your child to express himself - either in protest or as an actual life choice - does not make you a bad parent.”
So it’s safe to say this mum did the right thing by choosing to support her son and as for her parents… well, there’s an ‘end call’ button for a reason.