The beautiful way these Star Wars super fans cheered up a bullied little girl

8-year-old Virginia resident Layla is a huge fan of movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and the Star Wars series. Unfortunately, some of her peers have been bullying her for liking “boy things.” Even though we’ve made strides in abolishing gender stereotypes for kids (see: Target ditching their gender-based signage) some kids are still wrongly taught that, when it comes to playtime there are “boy things” and “girl things” and it’s a sad truth that kids who refuse to comply with these rigid norms are often tormented by their peers.

When adult Star Wars fans heard of Layla’s plight, they decided to pull a Jedi move and come to this girl’s rescue. As the website Comic Book reports, The 501st Legion, a Star Wars-themed non-profit, recently explained on Facebook just how they righted this wrong. Layla was given some custom-built Stormtrooper armor, and after suiting up, she was whisked away to a “Weird Al” concert where 501st members were participating on stage.

As the 501st Legion explains in their post, the experience really turned things around for Layla.

“This excited young ‪#‎StarWars‬ fan now proudly carries the trading cards of her 501st supporters in a Chewbacca backpack and can’t wait for the next opportunity to troop in armor. Her favorite part of wearing the costume? She loves when people say, “What a cute little boy!” only to discover that there’s a girl under that helmet! ‪#‎BadGuysDoingGood‬ ‪#‎HeartOfTheForce‬ ‪#‎StopBullying‬”

We love how these adults rallied to bolster this girl’s confidence and support her passion for the franchise that has given them all so much. Giving hope to dreamers and shutting down negativity is such a Jedi move, and we’re glad that these super fans wielded The Force in such a wonderful way and gave such a beautiful experience (AND a Stormtrooper suit) to a kid who really needed a good reason to believe again.

Below, the post, which has been shared almost 10,000 times at this point, in full:

Related:

This is awesome- Target is ditching gender-based signage

These A+ toy companies have a noble goal- to abolish gender stereotypes for kids

Image via Facebook