Justice

Father and Son Make-Up Selfies Go Viral

June 28th 2016

Although Father's Day has come and gone, one son's gift to his father reveals the importance of parents embracing their children who are gender fluid.

Instead of giving the usual card, 16-year-old Spencer Claus from Scottsdale, Ariz. gave his father something a bit more fabulous—a makeover.

Claus, who told ATTN: that he identifies as gender fluid, tweeted this picture of his father Scot in makeup with the caption, "like father like son, right?"

Claus did the same makeup for his mother on Mother's Day and jumped on the opportunity to recreate the look on his father weeks later.

"We all wanted to do it on my dad!" Claus told ATTN: via email. "It was kind of just one of those things where we were like 'yep, that's next!'

How did Claus' father respond?

"He was excited, he's never gotten all glammed up!" Claus told ATTN: "We're all actors, so he's worn some makeup onstage but nothing of that sort."

The post has been retweeted more than 10,000 times since Claus posted the images on Twitter, with many expressing their appreciation that Claus' father was so willing to support his son and embrace his identity.

Although there were a few mean comments scattered through Claus' Instagram and Twitter posts, the majority of people were praising Claus' parents.

"There are of course the extremely negative responses. Death threats, 'faggot,' 'gay cunt' -- but those are heavily outweighed by the people who are praising my parents for 'parenting done right,'" Claus told ATTN:. "Out of 1.3 million engagements, there were maybe 150 negative responses. I think that's a pretty good ratio of positivity."

Although Claus has supportive parents, not all children are so lucky.

For those people, Claus says, "if you're a kid or a teen and you feel different or need to express yourself differently, do it. If you're a parent, love your kid. It's amazing to me that love and acceptance of your child is something that's surprising, it seems like it just comes with the package. If you have a kid, you love them unconditionally. That's just how it goes."

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