By John Mack Freeman
In this week’s moment of heartwarming, straight fathers of gay Australian sons read the book I Think I’m a Poof by Samuel Leighton-Dore. Via Gay Star News:
In the video, Leighton-Dore’s father says of his son’s coming out: ‘It was so significant for him, but what’s remarkable is how insignificant an announcement it was for me.’
The book itself is a tongue-in-cheek story about a young boy coming out to his father and the unusually progressive advice his father gives in response.
‘Traditionally fairytales typecast heroes and villains, so I mindfully followed that more conventional structure; making the bullies our villains, and the young gay man our hero,’ the author said.
Leighton-Dore is a self-proclaimed ‘poof on mission’ but why did he use a word that many find offensive?
‘My choice of language wasn’t to provoke or polarize, but rather to deflate these everyday insults of their crushing power on children,’ he said.
