Young Desmond, trained up on his mother's lap....
Train up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old,
he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
"Viewers of the TODAY show were recently introduced to a young boy who, with the support of his parents, is a self-avowed drag queen, or as he likes to call himself, a “drag kid.”
NBC News Senior National Correspondent Kate Snow was all smiles during her piece about 10-year-old Desmond Napoles, whose social media name is Desmond Is Amazing. During an interview with the fifth-grader, who sports diamond stud earrings, she asks him if he’s transgender (to which he answers no), and whether he identifies as gay (to which he answers yes). “When did you come out,” she asks. “Ever since I was born,” he replies.
During Snow’s interview with Desmond’s parents we learn the backstory. His mother explains that when he was a toddler he would sit in her lap while she watched “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a runway competition for drag queens.
He was mesmerized, she says, and eventually started dressing up at home. Snow asks Desmond what it was about watching those drag queens that appealed to him. He thinks it was “how beautiful they were and how amazing they looked,” he tells her. And he thought, “I want to look amazing, too.”
We learn that Desmond’s mother and father consulted a therapist about his interest in dressing in drag. They were advised neither to encourage or discourage. So they let him take the lead and offered their support.
Video of Desmond prancing around in drag during a gay pride parade in 2015 went viral, and a social media star was born. He now has more than 40,000 Instagram followers and his own YouTube channel. He’s been profiled
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| From the "Really" File |
“Sashaying” is the word Vogue uses to describe Desmond’s walks down the runway, with his face covered in garish makeup and his nails brightly polished, but his mother sees nothing sexual in what he’s doing. To her he’s just a child enjoying himself. When Snow asks her if he’s young to be doing all this, she points to the fact that Mozart started playing the piano at age 3. Apparently in her eyes dressing in drag is Desmond’s talent. And, Snow explains, Desmond wants to make dressing in drag his career.
Of course Desmond’s story wouldn’t be complete without Snow adding that he uses his platform to support other kids and inspire them to come out. “I’m fierce and amazing,” Desmond tells her. “Drag kids are going to take over the world.” NCR
REALLY?
