This Family Is the Face of Awesome Parenting

Lori Duron is the author of Raising My Rainbow, a popular parenting blog (now a memoir) where she documents what it’s like raising C.J., her non-gender conforming son who prefers dresses, dolls and makeup to toys that are typically seen as boyish. Thanks to her popular website, Duron has become the face of non-gender conforming parenting, a style of child-rearing that creates a safe space for children to determine their own, often complex gender identities.

Earlier this morning, Today ran a segment on Lori, her husband Matt, C.J. and their other son Chase. Because The Today Show‘s audience is, by and large, made up of squares, some of the questions the Durons got asked were annoyingly conservative and/or failed spectacularly at understanding what it means to raise your child in a non-gender conforming environment. Correspondent Willie Geist asked about whether or not the parents think their son is gay, nature-vs.-nurture and if they think C.J. will be angry with his parents for being so open about his preference for typically feminine things once he’s older.

Despite the simplistic questions, the fact that Today is even running a segment on transgender youth — and one that shows C.J. as being happy, well-adjusted and looking totally fly in a sequined-skirt, no less — is enormously cool. Good for Today, good for C.J. and especially good for the Durons, who have given their kids the safest, most positive and encouraging environments that they could have hoped ffor.