Marcia Gay Harden, award-winning actor, crediting her
three queer children— Eulala, 25, is nonbinary; Hudson, 19 is gay; and his
twin, Julitta, is fluid—with making her an advocate for LGBTQ+ equality:
“I’ve learned an awful lot about gender nonconformity, and
I’ve learned a lot about what I was already understanding in my own life, even
in high school, my first boyfriend was gay and was too afraid to come out until
later. I was already learning a lot about the gay community, but at the time,
we spoke more about gay community rather than queer community and I think now
the kids talk a lot about the queer community, and it’s much more expansive.
It’s much more gender nonconforming. It’s much more embracing, actually … I’m
learning on a daily basis about that from all of [my] kids. I got so much hate
mail [about] how I'm grooming my kids and all this, that, and the other
[but] the response from each one of [my kids] was, ‘Work it, mom. Work it, mom.
You’re doing something right if that’s happening.’ Having a child will literally
be the greatest masterclass anybody will ever have … and I’ve learned to accept
each of them for the beauty that they are and dispel expectation. I’ve learned
that at the end of the day, it’s their life. It is their life. I want them to
be happy in it.”
That’s how you parent; you listen to your kids, and you love
your kids.
It’s not that difficult.
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