It is truly a beautiful thing when family supports one another, even when they "go against the grain." But sometimes, in an effort to make other people comfortable and to minimize confrontation, some people feel like shrinking back and taking the submissive route is best.
One mom is learning her recent call on making her boy take down a pride flag from his window might actually do more harm than she intended.
The mom started by explaining she has two teens under her roof. Her 17-year-old daughter is bisexual and her 14-year-old son is supportive.
"My son is not LGBTQ+ (as far as I know), but he feels strongly about being an ally for his sister," the mom wrote on Reddit. "My son made a gay pride flag by coloring nine pieces of printer paper and taping them together. I thought it was really beautiful."
While the mom doesn't have an issue with her daughter's sexuality or the flag itself, where he put it up ended up being an "issue."
"He then taped it on the window of his bedroom, facing our neighbors' house, who are homophobic," she further explained. "I asked him to move it to a wall instead of a window and he told me that I was being controlling, when I didn't believe I was. I just don’t want to be involved in a confrontation with them."
So now she wants to know if she made the wrong call.
Redditors rallied to inform her yes, in fact, she did.
"If no one speaks up for a minority, then repression is encouraged," one user simply explained. "Don't let freedom be a power vacuum filled only by haters. Everybody has to speak up against hate or hate wins."
Though people don't think she was was intentionally malicious, they warned her that her actions spoke louder than her words.
"Your daughter has been brave enough to tell your family something about herself that may make people reject her," began one user. "Your son has made something to support her that he proudly wants to show the world. You told you son, and indirectly your daughter, that the opinions of the homophobic neighbors are more important than the loving thing your son did and support of your daughter. That support for her is nice, but only if others don't see it, because it's not worth having a fight over. I suggest you tell him that's an old initial impulse that you're unlearning. Then go out as a family and buy a big pride flag."
The commenter also warned that catering to neighbor's bigotry is a slippery slope.
"He's not doing anything that would upset a reasonable person, and he's doing this in support of his sister," another user noted. "Telling him to take it down because your neighbors might make a scene is letting bigoted people control your family's actions just by being difficult."
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