Bronies: teenagers and young adult men and women who enjoy the television show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”  Some of us hate them, some of us don’t care, and some of us identify with that group.

Often, bronies, usually the male part of the fandom, are bullied when they ‘come out’, so to speak, about their love of the show.

Nine-year-old Grayson Bruce is one of them.  After bringing his Rainbow Dash lunchbox to school, he was a target for the other children.

Grayson says his peers are “taking it a little too far, with punching me, pushing me down, calling me horrible names, stuff that really shouldn’t happen.”

The principal of Grayson’s North Carolina Elementary school saw a quick solution.  He told Grayson’s mother, Noreen Bruce, to leave the lunchbox at home, because it was a “trigger for bullying.” Ms. Bruce is outraged at the notion that her son be untrue to himself to avoid the bullying.

The result of the principal’s ‘solution’ is an enormous flow of support for the boy.  Change.org is hosting a petition so that Grayson can continue to carry his lunchbox.  A support page on Facebook has achieved nearly 14,000 likes for the same thing, and even Glenn Beck brought a My Little Pony plushie on his broadcast to show support for the boy.

The school has come forward, stating that usually, they deal with bullying in a different way.  They acknowledge that they did not act on this situation as they should have done, but the Rainbow Dash themed lunchbox remains banned from the school.