Ah yes, the old family argument.

As a 17 1/2 year old youth in the grand city of Plymouth, UK I have never worn the kilt outside on a regular days outing into town for many fears of being insulted etc. I have worn it to a number of my friends gigs and, there it has to be said, I met with either positive comments, questions, or silence.

Once I was waiting for my friend in town, was about 9:30 PM, one guy walked past and said to his children "that guys wearing a skirt" and another larger group of men decided to shout "gay" before walking off.

Luckily my family, my dad being of Scottish stock and my mother of Welsh, never really minded me wearing it. My mother had more of a problem with it however she's never been all that vocal in her complaints.

The one thing that gets me is that the US seems to be a more understanding nation for kilties, though I've no experiance of this myself, but here people will pick on anyone and everything different.

I would agree that you must explain to your father why you want to wear it, the advantages over trousers, and the fact that you'd like to take your heritage more seriously by honouring it in such a way.

Best of luck to you,

J