LABELS FOR ALL

Last month, if you recall, there was a big deal about J. Crew and Company and the President and Creative Director: Jenna Lyons. It seems she has a little boy with blond curls and a trusting nature, in which little Beckett was featured in the catalog.

As Yahoo said: “The images in question fall under pages titled "Saturday with Jenna" -- featuring products personally favored by J. Crew president and creative director Jenna Lyons and her family. This particular Saturday for Jenna includes painting her five-year-old son Beckett's toenails pink. The caption reads, "Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon."
Cue the outrage from America's culture warriors.

"Yeah, well, it may be fun and games now, Jenna, but at least put some money aside for psychotherapy for the kid—and maybe a little for others who'll be affected by your 'innocent' pleasure," Dr. Keith Ablow wrote in a Fox News op-ed. "If you have no problem with the J. Crew ad, how about one in which a little boy models a sundress? What could possibly be the problem with that?"

I couldn’t help but comment.

When I was a youngster, when you did anything ‘girlie’ you were considered in the streets of Brooklyn a “Faggot” someone with a swish in his stride, and a wiggle when he walked. You needed a gun, a knife, and the US Marine Corps for protection if you wanted to live through the day, to enjoy your egg cream.



Then when I got into high school, you were: “Queer” and finally when you went into college you were a “Drag queen” or “queen.”

Frankly, what is all the commotion about? So the kid grows up hating his mother, having social identity problems, and can’t function because he has problems with his gender identity. The world IS changing its attitude toward “gays” as we call them now, they are not freaks, or should they be ridiculed or shunned. It is good for the world to accept someone without rancor, as long as those who have the gay title don’t force it down my throat.

I have no problem with gays: my problem is with Jenna Lyons and J. Crew. They used an innocent child to make a social statement! You can rationalize, argue, disagree with me, but darn it, they used the kid. They used him in such a way that he has no choice but to deal with that the rest of his life. He may deal with it as just a blip in his life, or he may find it dragging him down. Let’s hope nothing bad does happen from all this, but why did they need to do that to him, and risk the chance?

The Yahoo article was quick to mention it, and my impression was why the big fuss over the ad? Well once again, the media and in this case Yahoo, does it again, foist it upon us, rams it down our throats, and makes Fox News a culprit.

What good does this all do for little Beckett?