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Two-year-old boy called ‘faggot’ for wearing pink headband

Florida blogger and mother Katie Vyktoriah is shocked by the homophobic treatment her two-year-old son experienced at a Florida Walmart last week.

She was so upset by the incident that she wrote a personal story for Huffington Post that has gone viral since being published last Friday.

The 31-year-old mother recounts the incident while shopping at a Walmart in Polk County with her five-month-old baby and her son Dexter, who was wearing a pink headband.

While most of the strangers complimented the little boy on his choice of headgear, one man in particular lashed out calling him a "faggot."

"The fact that he was wearing a cute girly headband made him feel good, and he was charming all the old ladies by waving like a little pageant prince," Katie recalls in a her story entitled "Getting Political."

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Things took a turn for the worse when a pair of teen girls giggled and asked her if child was a boy or a girl.

She happily responded, "He's a boy," at which point a man's booming voice said, "That's a boy?!"

The man then walked up to the family, took off her son's headband, lighted slapped him behind the head, and said while laughing, "You’ll thank me later, little man!"

Vyktoriah moved in front of Dexter to shield him, before telling the man, "If you touch my son again, I will cut your damn hands off."

He replied, "Your son is a fucking faggot. He’ll get shot for it one day."

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Vyktoriah says she encourages her son to dress and act the way he chooses, explaining that he loves pink, Dora the Explorer and sometimes plays dress up with her skirts.

"He rocked that headband," she says. "Clearly, the man was a homophobe, which is bad enough -- but to attribute gay tendencies to a 2-year-old is as ridiculous as attributing straight tendencies to a two-year-old. It just doesn't compute!"

She was considerably shaken up from the incident, but relieved by an outpour of support from her Facebook fan page.

After reporting incident with local police who have told her not to speak publicly about the incident anymore, she decided to temporary shut down her blog.

What are your thoughts about the incident? Do you think the man will be found and charges laid? If so, what is an appropriate punishment?