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'Today' features 10-year-old 'drag kid' who says he’s gay, not trans. Parents say it’s 'his life.\
Image source: TheBlaze

'Today' features 10-year-old 'drag kid' who says he’s gay, not trans. Parents say it’s 'his life.\

Desmond Napoles, a 10-year-old self-professed "drag kid" appeared on NBC's "Today" Monday.

Who is he?

Desmond, a gay — but not transgender — 10-year-old is a child who crossdresses and walks in adult fashion shows.

According to his interview with NBC's Kate Snow, Desmond — who goes online by the moniker "Desmond is Amazing" — was subjected to watching "RuPaul's Drag Race" with his mother when he was just 3 years old.

Seeing those drag queens performing in the televised reality show competition changed his life forever, and he found his true "calling" as a drag kid, emulating what he saw on television.

The fifth-grader told Snow that he was inspired to dress like the queens he saw on television because they were "amazing" and "beautiful."

"You've done lots of interviews lately," Snow said during their interview. "How come?"

"I guess it's because I'm so famous and I'm such an inspiration to so many people!" he responded.

Snow responded by asking why he was so good at it.

"Natural-born talent!" the 10-year-old fired back.

Snow later asked Desmond if he was transgender, an identity he rejected.

"Do you identify as gay, though?" she pressed.

He said that he does identify as gay, and feels he's been "out" ever since he was born.

What else do we know?

Desmond, who hails from Brooklyn, has even been profiled by Vogue for his style and rose to notoriety in 2015 after a video of him dancing at a pride parade emerged and went viral.

He would have been 7 or 8 years old at the time.

Snow revealed that Desmond's parents, Wendy and Andrew Napoles, took Desmond to a psychologist after he told them that he wanted to make his way in life performing as a "drag kid." According to the report, psychologists told Desmond's parents to neither encourage nor discourage their son's behavior.

Snow later questioned Desmond's parents over their decision to stop Desmond from performing as a "drag kid" until he was older, Wendy responded, "Mozart first touched a piano when he was 3. I think there are talented children. If you see that talent and they want to do it, then why not?"

"Is it too young for a 10-year-old to be marching down a runway in a sexualized way?" Snow asked Desmond's parents.

Wendy answered, "I don't see him sexualized at all. I think that if people see sex in that, then there's definitely an issue on their end, because I just see a child who is enjoying themselves."

"There are people who would say to that, 'You're letting the kid lead,'" Snow said.

Wendy, smiling, responded, "I've heard that before. It's his life."

"It may look like he's leading us, but we're in the back 100 percent supporting him," she added.

Desmond told Snow that he also does what he does to inspire other people — including children — to come out and to be themselves.

"Drag kids are gonna take over the world!" he told Snow.

Desmond has over 60,000 Instagram followers, a platform on which he shares videos and photos of his everyday life, including performing in the drag shows.

Repost from @pink_news . . . Hi! 👋 I’m 🌟 Desmond 🌟 from NYC. 🗽 I'm a drag kid, dragutante, and draganista who does kinderdrag 🍭. . I'm the youngest member of the iconic voguing House of UltraOmni and the founder of the first drag house for drag kids, the @hausofamazing. . I'm an awarded LGBTQ+ advocate. My motto is "Be Yourself, Always" 🌈. . I call my looks androgynous and my style 🎨 'avant drag'. I'm inspired by RuPaul, the Club Kids, the Blitz Kids, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Marsha P. Johnson, Dragula, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, and Comme Des Garçons. . A big thank you to my fans, the Amazies. . . . #pinknews . #altdrag #androgynous #babydrag #boysinmakeup #brooklyndrag #clubkid #clubkids #drag #dragart #dragartist #dragkid #dragkids #draglife #dragmakeup #dragperformer #dragqueen #dragqueer #dragsuperstar #genderbender #klubkids #lgbtyouth #nycdrag #welovequeens - #desmondisamazing #beyourselfalways #amazies - #pegmgmt - #houseofultraomni #hausofamazing

A post shared by Desmond is Amazing (@desmondisamazing) on

Anything else?

Last week, Wendy Napoles told Pink News that she believes it's important to allow her son to express himself in a manner he sees fit.

"I believe that it is important for any parent to support their children in their interests and allow them to express themselves," she said. "It builds a child’s sense of self and instills confidence within them."

"I compare what I am doing to a mum whose son might be interested in football," she reasoned. "The parents would certainly take him to events like football games. Or a girl whose is interested in ballet. Her parent’s would take her to watch the ballet or to dance related events."

She added that her son believes drag is "an outer expression of the inner self."

"He believes that there is no wrong way to do drag, even if you look like a disaster," she explained, noting that "as long as you feel fabulous, you are doing it right."

“Drag is for anyone, no matter what sex, age, gender, identity, ability, or race," she added.

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