Magic Johnson shared some advice for parents when it comes to having LGBTQ children. During Johnson’s appearance on Ellen, he spoke about his son E.J. coming out to him and his wife, and praised the 24-year-old. Ellen DeGeneres asked Johnson what advice he would give to parents whose children just came out to them.
“I think it’s all about you not trying to decide what your daughter or son should be, or what you want them to become,” Johnson, 57, stressed. “It’s all about loving them no matter who they are, what they decide to do. And when my son came out, I was so happy for him, and happy for us as parents—and we love him, and E.J. is amazing.”
“So you’ve got to support your child because there are so many people who try to discriminate against them, so they need you to support them. Because if you don’t support them, who is going to support them and love them?” he added.
E.J. has been paving his own way in the entertainment industry for some time now. He starred in Rich Kids of Beverly Hills before moving on to his New York City spinoff EJNYC, which was canceled in 2016.
E.J., who wears clothes from both genders, said during an episode of EJNYC that his identity is important to him and that he doesn’t feel the need to transition into a woman.
“Since everybody’s talking about Caitlyn Jenner and being transgender, people are quick to say, ‘Oh, just because you’re dressing like that means that you’re going to transition to become a woman,’” he said.
“I thought about it, for sure. I was just like, ‘Well, do I want to transition? Is this something that I would do?’ But I don’t feel incomplete in that way. I don’t feel the need to do that.”
E.J.’s mother, Cookie, also spoke of her son in her 2016 memoir, Believing in Magic: My Story of Love, Overcoming Adversity, and Keeping the Faith.
“I dedicated a whole chapter to E.J.,” she said in an interview. “I did that because I wanted the world to know, you know, accept your children when they’re babies—when you understand, when they’re young, and that way you instill positive things in them, and they can have a lot of self-confidence, and go into this world and do wonderful things. It took me a long time to understand, you know, who he was and to get on board, and I wrote that chapter because I wanted other young parents to understand; don’t wait so long. This is who they are. Embrace them from the beginning.”
Although there are parents who are just as accepting as the Johnsons, there are even more out there who aren’t. Hopefully, Magic’s words on The Ellen DeGeneres Show guided someone in the right way.