The end of the year is typically a time when we reflect on just how important family and loved ones are to us.
A man in Madison, Wisconsin, recently proved how far he would go for the happiness of his family — and more specifically, his kids.
Dave Heide is a restaurant owner and chef who used to own a fancy New Orleans-style establishment named after one of his children.
His 16-year-old son, Ollie, came out to his parents two years ago as nonbinary. According to Today, Heide was nothing but supportive.
"I was like, 'OK, cool, what's up? Is there something else going on or … ?'" Heide told the outlet.
"He was like no, I'm coming out!' and I was like, 'Oh, OK, cool.'"
The couple was going to support their son, who uses he/him and they/them pronouns, no matter what.
That’s when Heide started to wonder what to do with his restaurant, which was at that time branded with his son’s deadname, or his name prior to transition.
The entrepreneur asked his son what he wanted to do about this. At first, Ollie was OK with leaving the name as it was, but eventually it started to take a toll.
"We had talked about it before and I had a lot of connection to it since I’d grown up with it," Ollie told Today. "But it just, it got getting harder and harder to see my old name, huge on the side of the road. And my dad just kept listening and tried to come up with a bunch of different solutions, and then decided to change it."
His dad’s eatery was a well-known spot in the town, which meant Ollie’s friends and classmates would either know or discover his deadname.
“And there is just that dread of like, as soon as someone brings up my dad, I knew … the whole class was going to know my deadname now.”
As a father of three, Heide knew his kids. He continued to confirm with Ollie that he was all right. Eventually, Ollie asked if they could change the name.
"He was like, 'Only if that's OK,'" Heide said. "And I was like, 'Of course, I don’t give a [expletive] about my brand or whatever … I care about my kiddo and, you know, him being able to have a safe and happy life.”
Heide also mentioned in his interview with Today that he recognized that trans people have a lower life expectancy due to "the amount of cases of suicide and whatnot."
