A 10-year-old Brooklyn boy has founded a drag club to provide a “safe space” for children, mainly boys, who dress in drag. Desmond Napoles, who goes by his drag name, Desmond is Amazing, says he created the drag club so other feminine boys can express themselves in a “positive, encouraging, and safe” space.
There are multiple drag clubs in New York, but only one — Desmond’s “Haus of Amazing” — is targeted to vulnerable children.
On his website, Desmond refers to himself as a “drag kid”, and he hopes to encourage other boys to share the same interests in drag culture.
Desmond came out as gay at age 9.
LGBT celebrities have embraced Desmond and he appeared in a video with drag queen and television personality RuPaul.
Like most confused boys, Desmond began playing in his mom’s closet and wearing her high heeled shoes at a very young age.
“Ever since day one, ever since I was able to walk, I used to take my mom’s towels and take her heels and clomp around the house,” he told OUT magazine. “[I’d] put the towel on my head, wrap a towel around my body and walk the runway down my house.”
Desmond said he liked playing with Barbie dolls when he was 5, but it was an Elsa costume from the movie Frozen that changed his life forever at age six.
Desmond started pestering his parents to buy him princess costumes or dresses whenever they were out shopping, according to the Daily Mail UK.
Alarmed by the boy’s obsession with feminine things, his parents consulted a therapist who urged them to accept Desmond’s gender confusion and financially support his taste in feminine clothes, toys, and makeup.
In 2015, he participated in a Gay Pride parade in NYC. Images of the boy wearing a rainbow tutu and gold beret went viral on social media. Desmond loved the attention and his flamboyant behavior evolved to incorporate more drag culture.
His influences include RuPaul, and 1970s drag queens and avant-garde fashion designers such as Comme de Garcons, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, and Betsey Johnson.
Desmond’s parents vigorously deny allegations that they are encouraging Desmond to be sexually active.
His parents say their 10-year-old son is not yet sexually active, and although he is an advocate for LGBTQ rights, he has not “reached the age where sexual relations are appropriate or discussed explicitly.”
