By Jay Valle -
NBC News
A California father took his 3-year-old son for a manicure after a teacher told him that "painting your nails is for girls."
"My son came home from school sad because his teacher assured him that nail painting is only for girls
, so today I'm taking him to the nail salon!" Christian Shearhod said in a now-viral video shared Saturday on the TikTok platform. .
The clip, which has more than 4 million views, shows 3-year-old Ashton in a West Hollywood nail salon, proudly yelling, “I want the pink!” before sitting down to receive a service. Full manicure and pedicure.
At the end of the video, the boy shows off his bright pink painted nails.
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Shearhod, a teacher in Los Angeles County, told NBC News, sister network to Noticias Telemundo, on Tuesday that his son expressed an interest in nail polish when he was about 2 years old.
"Since then, we started painting our nails together," he said.
From left to right: Eden, Ashton and Christian Shearhod. Courtesy Christian Shearhod.
When Ashton came home sad after his teacher's comment, Shearhod explained that he and his girlfriend were going to cheer him up by taking him to the nail salon.
"I just wanted to make sure that he didn't feel guilty or ashamed
, because it's something that he liked and that we had done together several times," said the father, and assured that he wants his son to enjoy life to the fullest, without the "strict gender norms”.
The next day, she spoke with the teachers at her son's daycare.
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“I just told them, 'Hey, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't say those kinds of things to Ashton and just let him have his way,'” she recounted.
Since he posted the video on TikTok, more than 14,000 users have left comments, most of them supportive.
One user wrote: “As a teacher, I am so sorry.
I always insist to my students that there is no 'boy' or 'girl' thing.
Just things we like."
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Another user commented: “I am a woman and I work with cars.
My brother in law loves the color pink.
My son loves getting his nails done.
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Although most of the responses have been positive, Shearhod said he has received some negative comments and inappropriate questions, such as one user who asked, "So is he gay?" referring to the boy.
In a response video, Shearhod said: "He's literally three years old, he can't be gay because he doesn't have a sexuality yet, and
you're not going to assign him a sexuality because he likes girly things or outside of typical gender norms
."
The result shown by Christian Shearhod in his video. Courtesy Christian Shearhod.
Shearhod, who is in a relationship with a transgender woman and identifies as straight, is actively sharing content on his TikTok account, where he has more than 900,000 followers.
Most of his videos highlight aspects of his life, such as his dating relationship, which often makes him the target of hate comments and transphobia, he said.
“I get comments on my videos like: 'You're gay, you should kill yourself.'
and other things like that.
I had never experienced that kind of hate
,” she lamented.
Shearhod said that despite the negativity he encounters online, he wants to use his platform to advocate for LGBTQ students.
“I just want to inspire them to want to be themselves, without filters,” he said.