A Boy Wanted Rainbow Hair, His Mom Was Supportive, and the Internet Is Proud
Julia Fusco-Luberoff describes her son Eddie, 9, as someone who has always been “very much his own person, outspoken, witty, and kind.” At his first birthday party, he greeting guests with, “Hi, I’m Eddie — welcome to my party.” Throughout elementary school, Fusco-Luberoff heard stories from her son’s teachers about the way he’s upset by — and stands up against — inequality and bullying.
After Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost the race for presidency, Fusco-Luberoff — a Clinton supporter — says she “must have been looking sad” because Eddie asked her the next morning what was wrong. When she told him that she was disappointed by the results of the election, Eddie told his mother, “I know. But don’t worry. As long as he keeps taxes to a minimum, doesn’t promote bigotry, and doesn’t try to build that ridiculous wall, we’ll all be OK. Four years will feel like four minutes.”
Fusco-Luberoff, herself a survivor of Hurricane Sandy who lost “everything” to the deadly 2012 storm, tells Yahoo Beauty that upon hearing these words out of her young son’s mouth, she said to him, “You’re 9” — to which he replied, “Yes, but I’m woke.”
Which is why, Fusco-Luberoff says, when Eddie asked his mother for rainbow hair for his birthday a few weeks after election night, “his request was not surprising.” Because, she says, her son was the only child in his first grade class wearing nail polish and had asked for earrings for his eighth birthday. And even more so, because as Eddie explained to his mother his desire to dye his hair like a rainbow, “he was excited that it also helps support the LGBTQ community, because he thinks it’s ridiculous that they have to fight for rights in 2016.”
“Knowing that my son is so politically aware and wants to support the community in his own way makes me really proud of him,” Fusco-Luberoff says. “I’m trying to teach him to be an activist, to speak out when he sees something that isn’t right, to not go along with the crowd [when] his heart doesn’t agree, and to stand up for others when they can’t stand up for themselves.”
She adds, “I want him to always be true to himself, no matter what opposition he faces, even if it isn’t an easy decision. Especially if it isn’t an easy decision. He’s little and he’s young, but he can still make a difference, and he knows that.”
And when it comes to rocking rainbow hair, Eddie told his mother, “It makes me feel better about the future because it may make a change. Maybe people will see my hair and say, ‘Oh look, he supports it, maybe I should support it too.’”
And so dye his hair like a rainbow Eddie did — and when Fusco-Luberoff posted pictures and his story on the page of the private Facebook group for Clinton supporters Pantsuit Nation, she says she was just sharing because “I thought he looked cute and wanted to share his positive story.” The post, however, quickly blew up the page, quickly garnering 76,000 likes and counting.
As Fusco-Luberoff wrote in her Pantsuit Nation post:
His father didn’t want him to do it and expressed concern that he would be bullied at school because of the rainbow theme. So I asked him what he would do if someone made fun of his hair or called him ‘gay.’ I asked him if he knew the rainbow stands for LGBTQ pride. ‘Mommy, they’re not going to make fun of me. But if they do I’ll tell them it doesn’t take much courage to make fun of someone but it does take a lot of courage to stand up for someone who is being made fun of. If my hair stands for pride, then I’m PROUD to have it!’ You got it, kid. Rainbow hair it is.
“It really made me realize how important it is, especially now that we remain vigilant and aware of communities who are afraid of losing their voice,” Fusco-Luberoff says. Eddie says of the mass outpouring of support for his new dye job, “It makes me feel good because people actually noticed! I feel like I’m helping other people not be afraid, and that’s pretty cool.”
Fusco-Luberoff says that she believes there couldn’t be a better time for the world to see her son and his hair and his story since “now more than ever, traditionally marginalized groups — people of color, women, LGBTQ people — need all the support they can get. Now is the time for everyone who sees injustice and hate in the world to stand up and use their voice for good. My son is a white male in America. It is extremely important to me that he understand and use his privilege to be a force for change. Right now he’s only 9, but as he gets older he’s going to run into the situations where he’ll have a choice to help or ignore, and I want him to always choose justice, even if it means he’s going to take some heat for it.”
And Fusco-Luberoff believes that time really is now.
“I’m fearful, given the current political climate. When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,” she says, noting that what she is most concerned about facing the incoming Trump administration is “the explosion of hatred, the breathtaking boldness those who feel they now have permission to be horrible to other people without fear of consequence. The normalizing of disgusting behavior. The willful ignorance of people who should know better. The breezy dismissal of facts as something you can pick and choose which ones you believe in.”
As a special education teacher, Fusco-Luberoff has seen firsthand the fear that has emerged following Trump’s election, saying the day before the election one student asked to stand next to her during the Pledge of Allegiance. He said he was worried there was “a 50-50 chance I’m going to be deported after tomorrow.” Likewise, around the same time another student who she asked not to use foul language in class told her, “Miss F, we live in a ‘Grab ’em by the pussy’ kinda world now — that’s just how it is.”
And as a mother, she says, “I’m afraid of the world my son is growing up into … I’m afraid a free spirit like his will be crucified in a world” like the one that, in her opinion, a Trump-Pence administration represents. “This isn’t the America I’ve known. I’m fearful because, in addition to raising a kind, open, loving young man, I must also raise a warrior.”
Which is why Eddie’s rainbow is so much more than just a great look.
“I hope the world sees him and sees courage and hope. I hope they feel safer knowing there are parents like us who aren’t afraid to let their sons rock rainbow hair and be themselves. I hope they feel protective of him and kids like him who just want to be who they are without fear of violence, hatred, oppression, or rejection. I hope his light shines for those kids who can’t shine theirs,” she says. “It’s a very small gesture, but it’s a powerful statement for such a little guy.”
Or, as Eddie himself says about his hair, “I was hoping it would express my personality and that I show my support with my hair. It isn’t fair [that LGBTQ people] have to be treated differently. Maybe if they see my hair, they won’t be mean to someone else.”
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