I expected my friends and family to be there for us, I wasn’t expecting the outpouring of encouragement and love from the public and celebrities. They remind you that you’re doing the right things for your children. That’s when true friends step up, support and encourage you. It goes to show that you don’t cultivate relationships with quality people for the good times. Anybody who knows us knows that we have an awesome support system. MD: We have received a lot of support from our friends and family. Some of my initial reactions to the tweet included hate and fear, I had to exercise some self-control because lashing out wouldn’t help the situation. I’ve had to remind myself of another thing we teach our kids: You can’t let hate breed hate and fear breed fear. So, yes, I say I’m immune to hate thrown my way, but I must admit, Woods’ tweet proved me wrong. That’s a reflection of them, their background and their intentions, not mine. The biggest rule we have in our house and the life lesson we stress most to our two children is “Don’t be a jerk.” When adults are jerks it makes me wonder about the way they were parented, not how I parent. Especially when they do it so graphically. I’m also always disturbed and surprised when adults ― who are old enough to know better ― think it’s okay to talk about a child in a negative way. We had to evolve to the place where we are now, that’s what my writing is all about ― to show our evolution as parents and people and hope that it inspires others. I’ve written about how much easier our lives would be if both of our boys were straight and cisgender. Anybody who has followed our journey knows that is not true. Woods also implied that we force our son to be gender creative. I’m not alone in this journey, he’s right there beside me. But I always know I can include him if I need the support. At this point, Lori doesn’t show me hate mail unless it’s a specific threat or it’s so uneducated and nonsensical that it’s amusing. I’m a very protective person by nature and have no tolerance for someone trying to make someone else feel small. Matt Duron: The hate mail gets to me more. Since Trump took office, I’ve definitely seen an uptick in my hate mail and it only intensified after the vile tweet by Woods.

And, “Never Read the Comments” is one of my life mottos. I’ve also gotten really good at ignoring and being unaffected by hate that is directed at me.

I’m used to the ebb and flow of negativity based on what I choose to blog about. When my book came out in September of 2013, the hate mail intensified for a while.

You can’t advocate for change and not hear from people who are resistant to change. Lori Duron: When I started my blog about the adventures in raising a gender creative child in January of 2011, I started receiving hate mail. HuffPost: When did the attacks on your family first begin and can you pinpoint what ignited them?

Raising My Rainbow by Lori Duron