Parents raising children as gender-neutral asked by homophobes if they’re scared of ‘making them gay’
Stock image (Sharon McCutcheon/Pexels)
A couple who are raising their child as gender-neutral have told of the inappropriate questions they receive from other adults about their son’s upbringing.
Christina Hise-Johnson and her husband Josh have a five year old son called Chandler. They decided to raise him in a way that encourages him to express himself without traditional gender labels, Metro reports.
He still uses he/him pronouns but likes to dress in pink clothes and prefers shopping in the girls’ clothes section in stores.
The Indiana mum said: “We are asked questions like ‘aren’t you scared he’s going to be gay?’ or ‘why would you let your boy dress like a girl?’”
The couple tell other adults who question their parenting that ‘clothes are just clothes’.
Furthemore, Christina revealed that adults have approached her to say “how beautiful” their “little girl” is – and have walked away in disgust when they found out he was a boy.
Christina and Josh always tell people who ask that “clothes are just clothes and colours are just colours”, and explain that Chandler can express himself in whatever way he sees fit.
We are asked questions like ‘aren’t you scared he’s going to be gay?’ or ‘why would you let your boy dress like a girl?’
The couple also have two other children, 14-year-old Jacob and 19-year-old Ashley, who were both raised with the same ideology.
“Gender-neutral parenting for us is allowing our children to make choices based on things that interest them,” Christina continued.
Their son has sadly received abuse from other children for being gender-neutral.
“We do not limit those interests based on what the media says is ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ related. We teach that clothes, colours, and activities are not gender-related.”
Sadly, their son has also received some of the abuse. He was once told he was a girl and called gay at another child’s birthday party. The couple have decided to homeschool their child so he can avoid the negative attention.
Christina and Josh are not the only couple to raise their children in a gender-neutral environment. A Los Angeles couple made headlines last year when they decided they didn’t want to assign their child a legal gender. However, they lost their fight when government officials told them “a baby is not a person without a gender”.
