A mum has been left in shock after her post on LinkedIn showing her son proudly coming out in a prom dress was removed.
Jade Scotney had uploaded the image of her teenage son Justin to the business-based social media site after he attended his end of school prom.
The 16-year-old had received an overwhelmingly positive reaction from pupils and teachers when he wore a classical black ball gown inspired by Angelina Jolie.
The youngster had planned his outfit for the Fareham Academy's end of term celebration for almost a year.
Mum Jade, 34 said everyone was ‘welcoming and accepting’ when her son, who has autism, arrived at the event at the Solent Hotel and Spa, Hants, on Thursday July 22.
She posted the image but was stunned to find her post removed and her entire profile blocked the next day.
The mum said she was disappointed a small minority of people on the site had reported her for expressing joy at her son’s decision to wear a dress, when children at his own school had been so accepting.
She said: "It’s disappointing really, it’s crazy to think you’ve got all these kids who have just been so welcoming and accepting, and not batted an eyelid.
"And then adults online are getting offended by it and reporting the post and getting it shut down.
"I posted that evening before we went and by the next morning, I noticed it had been removed and my profile had been blocked.
"They (LinkedIn) have apologised now, but they have not said why they took the post down."
Justin, who came out as gay to his own family last year, said it was baffling to find out his mum’s post online had been removed.
He said: "I was disappointed when I heard it was taken down, just because someone doesn’t like it doesn’t mean that no one should see it.
"People need to accept it, whether they like it or not."
Justin added: "It was around about this time last year that I started getting into cross-dressing because I thought it was fun.
"And when it came to my prom, I thought, “I’m just going to wear a dress”. I thought it would be great to show everyone that I can do that and show that I’m not afraid of being myself."
He added: "I was definitely nervous about it, in the weeks leading up to the whole event, I kept thinking “what if someone says something?”, I thought that some people were going to be quite negative about it or be weirded out by it.
"I was a bit surprised, but it was absolutely wonderful to see that people were accepting me."
Justin lives with mum Jade and siblings Daisy, 14, and eight-year-old Finley in Fareham, Hants.
LinkedIn has apologised and admitted that they ‘made a mistake.’
A spokeswoman said: "We absolutely agree that diversity and inclusion should be embraced and encouraged, and we continue to work each day to make LinkedIn an inclusive and safe platform for everyone.’
In a reply to Jade directly when she questioned the removal of her post the company said: "This was our mistake – your post shouldn’t have been taken down and your post shouldn’t have been restricted.
"We’re very sorry for these mistakes and are happy to see you celebrating Justin at prom. We are so glad he had a great night."