My Beautiful Drag Queen [PFLAG: A Note to My Kid]

Dear Miles:

I think you already know how proud I am of you, and daddy feels the same way. You're a smart, funny, hard-working, and talented young man.  You're also a beautiful drag queen, who makes your own costumes, styles wigs, and does amazing makeup.  There were some indications of your fabulousness, early on. You were choosing to wear dresses before you were even 2 years old, and you always liked the "twirly" ones.  I remember when you were 3, playing in the dress-up area at preschool.  Your best girl friend put on the pink dress and told you to "wear the blue dress, because blue is for boys."  That same year, you went trick-or-treating with her and another friend.  One woman, handing out candy, complimented the "three beautiful girls" and you responded, "I'm not a girl; I'm a boy dressed like a girl."  

You stopped wearing dresses when you started kindergarten, possibly because you got the message from your classmates that boys don't do that.  Then, years later, you got interested in dresses again, and took it to a new level, wearing drag to high school and even Winter Formal.  Your classmates didn't give you a hard time, but seemed to embrace your uniqueness. 

When you were 15, you came out to daddy and me, saying, "I think I might be gay."  My first thought was, 'I don't ever want you to be hurt or treated badly for being who you are.'  And now, as you apply for colleges and look for a new city to call home for 4 years, all I really want is for you to be safe, to be happy, and to be who you are.  I hope the world sees what your dad and I see: a strong, responsible, kind, happy person who has so much to offer to so many. 

I Love You,
Mom

Originally published as part of the A Note to My Kid collection on the PFLAG National Blog