pink and purple

Leo came home from first grade a while ago saying that pink and purple are "girl colors" and blue is a "boy color." Anyone who wears pink or purple is a girl, according to some of his male classmates. I thought about letting that comment slide, but David and I discussed it and decided that we were going to respond to the rigid gender stereotypes of American society. So the next day I deliberately wore a pink shirt and David wore a purple one. We asked Leo if we were girls. He of course said no. We pointed out the color of our shirts and asked if we wear pink or purple does that make us a girl? He again said no. So we had a discussion with him about colors just being colors, that people can wear whatever color they want. He's growing up with two dads, so I want to make sure that he doesn't accept that there are rigid limits on what a person can do based only on his or her sex.

To me, one of the best parts of being gay is that I can ignore any gender stereotypes that I want. I've already broken the biggest rule of what a man shouldn't do, to have sex with another man, and in my case, usually in the "woman's" role. I've realized that's a ridiculous rule, so why not break others? So I have a pink shirt that I wear to work on occasion. Why not? F*ck the rules.