Drag queen dad

I’ve just watched a video about a dad who went on a drag queen “challenge” in order to get closer to his son.

They show him how they pick up this guy in his late 40s who has a gay drag queen son. They show his story and they make him become a drag queen for a night too. It’s all emotional and the father and son love is all obvious on camera.

But in the story the dad talks about the moment when the son comes out as gay. He talks about his thought process. Obviously, at the start there was a lot of self blame and guilt because the dad had a different definition of normality. I’m not going to debate normality in this post, it’s out of the purpose and too vast.

I’m writing about this dad because what impressed me was that he went beyond his own limits for his son. It’s not the effort of putting a roof over his head, or feeding him or sending him to school. WHO and other organisations have clear lists of children’s rights. I’m talking about not giving up on your son or daughter even when they’re grown ups, going down a pathway you don’t particularly like just to bond with them, to accept them the way they are. This dad, who loves playing football in the mud, who’d rather have pints with his mates in a pub, put on make up and a wig and even an effing dress just to understand his son! That’s incredible!

I don’t have any children and I have moments when I imagine how are they going to be when they’ll exist. And of course, there are scrlenarios that I prefer. But what if they’ll turn out to be exactly the opposite of what I imagine?! What would I do then?

After the struggle and the blame and the guilt, I want to believe I’d be a ‘drag queen dad’ kind of mom. Do something you never imagined doing because of your child. That’s love, but also STRENGTH. And that’s the kind of parent I want to be.