I think people are more sick of cruddy parents who raise boys as girls, like the two freaks in Britain who have their boy wear dresses.
I’m not sure I see the connection between dressing boys up in dresses and letting a 9 y.o. boy carry his favorite backpack to school.
Please don’t take offense, but if the backpack had been a looney toons pack with a picture of one character whacking another on the head, and the kid was told he couldn’t bring it because it was fomenting violence, the opinions here would be diametrically opposite to what they are now, and the hue and cry would be about nanny-staters not respecting the kid’s freedom and individuality. As far as I can see, that’s irrational.