Erik Alexander grew up surrounded by homophobia and was ‘bullied for being different’ (Picture: Erik Alexander)

A gay father has revealed his secret to dealing with stares from strangers.

Basically, own it!

Erik Alexander, from New Orleans, grew up surrounded by homophobia and was ‘bullied for being different’.

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And to this day, he is still affected by the bullying from his youth.


But he’s now learned to face the discrimination and all those stares he still gets.

Writing in a blog for gayswithkids.com, Erik, who has a child with husband Douglas, said: ‘I was called gay before I even knew what gay meant. Over time, it really hurt me and would often break me down.’

‘Rather than being self-conscious about it, own it.’ (File picture: Getty)

‘I was able to move on, but I was not able to forget.’



Until he had little Alli Mae: ‘She is the absolute light of our lives and I fall more in love with her every single day.’

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Erik said: ‘Every time we go out, people stare because they may have never seen this before. Rather than being self-conscious about it, own it.

‘Let it be a teaching experience for them. Don’t read into their stares. Most likely they are staring with curiosity and not judgment.

‘I think about those words every time I am in public now. I never realised that some people down here may have never seen or interacted with a gay family.’

He added that though they still get stares in public, he knows he and his partner are ‘good parents’.

Erik said: ‘This may be the first time straight people have ever seen a gay family. This may be the first time they have ever seen a baby be as happy as ours with two dads.

‘This may be the time that we proved to them that gay people can be just as good of parents as traditional ones. We are even better than some.’

He then finished his moving post with a quote from Hellen Keller: ‘Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.’

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