PinkNews celebrates the best LGBT parenting wins.

1 This ‘redneck’ father who gave some amazing advice to his gay son

This cute video about the gay son of a dairy farmer in 1950s America tells the story of when Patrick Haggerty received some great words of wisdom from his ‘redneck’ father. If the fact that his father accepts his son’s sexuality isn’t enough to force the tears out of your eyes: just wait till you hear what he has to say about ‘sneaking’.

Watch the full video below, and read our main article here.

2 Mother of bi daughters who silenced anti-gay vandals in colourful style

A real test for the parents of LGBT children is if their child experiences bullying. It can be very easy for even the most accepting of parents to brush the situation aside with a ‘tone it down’ or a ‘hide it’. But that wasn’t what Erin and Joe Delong did when bullies vandalised their garage with homophobic nonsense aimed at their bisexual children.

Instead of just painting over the graffiti, the parents decided to show their support for their LGBT children by turning the garage door into an LGBT pride flag.

3 Dad who penned epic response to trolls who called his son a ‘fag’ for playing with toy kitchen

So what would you do if your son expressed an interest in cooking? Do you encourage him to pursue this thing he clearly enjoys or do you ignore him and hope that your son develops an interest in sports?

One man, who made the correct decision, built a toy kitchen to play with after his son took an interest in cooking family meals. And it was fantastic.

4 The mother who opened up about life with two transgender children

We all know how tough it is to come out to your parents, but it can also be hard for the parents to deal with. Not only do they have to overcome any personal prejudices they may have or handle the fear of their child having a much tougher life, but they also have to learn all of the issues around their child’s LGBT identity and how best to support them.

Beth McGarrity went through this twice when both of her children came out as transgender earlier this year. But instead of buckling under the pressure or reacting out of fear, she overcame it.

She did admit to feeling a little afraid for her kids, scared that they would experience discrimination, but she can see the funny side.

“I always wanted one of each,” she said.

“Now I still do!”

6 Gay guy shares his surprise after coming out on his birthday to ‘very conservative’ father

Sometimes the words that you need to hear come from the most unlikely of places, and for many LGBT people the depressing reality is that the unlikely place is their own parents.

Brett did not expect the reaction he received from his ‘very conservative’ father when he was outed on his birthday earlier this year.

After drunkenly posting that he was ‘a faggot’ on Snapchat, his father asked him if this was true. When Brett said yes, he didn’t hear from his father for a day.

But then his father sent him a message that simply said “Happy Birthday Son, I Love You more than you will ever know and I am sooo proud of you. I am Lucky to have a son like you.

“Brett, I Love You more today than yesterday, we will talk soon.”

 7 Proud parents who spoke of raising their brave transgender 5-year-old

Mimi and Joe said that initially they hoped their son Jacob’s “obsession with being a boy would go away” when he first started to talk about his gender identity at the age of two. But eventually they realised that their sons feelings were not going away and they did what any good parent would do. They educated themselves and decided to let Jacob live as the boy he is.

Watch the video below and read the full article here.

8 This dad’s moving response to his son’s new toy

The old way of thinking about gender is going away for ever. Slowly but surely the lines between ‘mens thing’s’ and ‘womens thing’s’are getting blurrier and blurrier. You only have to watch that episode of Friends where Ross’ son enjoys playing with a Barbie, much to the comical annoyance of his father, to see how far we have come.

Mikki Willis shared a video on his Facebook where he talked about his reaction to his son wanting an Ariel princess doll.

Read the full article here.

9 This proud dad defended his son’s brilliant choice of Halloween costume

When 9 year old Liam decided to dress up as the infamous Dalmatian thief Cruella De Vil for Halloween, not only did he nail it, but he had the full backing of his father, Will.

Will was so proud of his son that he immediately shared the pictures on his Facebook feed. But the reaction was, predictably, not good. Many of his friends expressed horror at what he allowed his son to do, with one ‘concerned friend’ even saying “I must say completely inappropriate, and I can’t believe a parent would ever do that to their child! Sorry if I offend you or your friends but I think it’s wrong!!!”

Will immediately jumped to Liam’s defence and calmly explained “We deal with this type of small minded person on a daily basis. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I will always support and encourage my kids creativity happily and without apology.”

Read the full story here.

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