Mom Accused of Child Abuse for Letting Her Five-Year-Old Daughter Wear Boys Clothes

Maddie just wanted a new suit to wear for Easter.

A Texas mom simply wanted to buy her five-year-old daughter something new to wear for Easter but the outfit she chose led the store clerk to accuse her of child abuse.

"She's a tomboy," Jennifer Giordano explained. "Maddie's preferred to dress in boys clothes since she was about three years old."

"She just wants to wear a suit and tie, and Easter's the perfect time for it because there's always cute stuff out," Jennifer told [link target='_blank' href='' link_updater_label='external']CBSBFW


When she took Maddie into Martha's Miniatures, a store filled with taffeta and frills, Jennifer said she wasn't at all surprised that Maddie had her eye on a suit instead of a pastel dress. The clerk was happy to help until she realized that the suit was for a little girl.

"The woman's face was just a face of disgust," said Jennifer.

"She just approached it in a very hostile manner and tells me that's wrong, I should not be encouraging this behavior—that parents should not let their children choose the way that they dress if it's cross-gendered," Jennifer told KTEN.

After being wrongfully condemned, Jennifer and Maddie left the store.

Martha's Miniatures responded in a Facebook post saying "This is child abuse for the mother. The post, which has since been deleted, went on, "She is wrong to encourage this."

Unforunately, the sales associate isn't the only person with this attitude. Texas, and other states are currently considering proposals that would make it legal for retailers to use their personal religious beliefs to refuse to help certain costumers based on their sexual orientation.

Despite the hiccup, Maddie, who "looks forward" to her Easter tradition of picking out a new suit every year, ultimately got some sharp duds at a nearby J.C. Penney that she can't wait to show off on Sunday.


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