The Mother Of An 11-Year-Old Drag Sensation Opens Up About The Overwhelming Amount Of Hate They've Received From Strangers
It's sad that we live in an age where people think gender expression constitutes child abuse, but, here we are.
11-year-old Desmond Napoles (better known in drag as Desmond Is Amazing) and his mom, Wendy, keep having Child Protective Services called on them because of Desmond's gender expression.
Desmond first got into Drag by watching RuPaul's Drag Race and seeing those drag queens strutting their stuff and werking, honey.
"It was almost like he thought they were princesses or something, and after that he'd starting taking things from around the house like my clothes and put them on and walk around the house like it was a runway," Wendy told BuzzFeed News.
Desmond began to get a lot of attention on social media from fans and harassers alike.
Specifically, conservatives--who began calling CPS on the parents and accusing them of abuse for allowing Desmond to be himself.
"They're basically saying queer kids equal pedophilia and sexuality. It's really quite disgusting they're seeing kids like this," said Wendy.
"For whatever reason, the conservative media has really made a target of Desmond. No matter what it is, no matter what we do, they come after us."
Warning: these comments are VERY ugly.
@Reuters #ChildAbuse— Mr. Untactical (@Mr. Untactical) 1553198953
@Reuters https://t.co/GoSYhtzUim— Thaty (@Thaty) 1553227765
The problem got to be so bad, that "at one point, Wendy said there were "more than 200 open cases about Desmond."
Callers sexualizing queer people is one of the main problematic reasons behind this. Queer people exist at all stages in their lives and the queer identity encompasses a wide variety of expressions.
Desmond's drag performances do not include adult themes and are all "kid-friendly."
@Reuters Oh help him, help us Lord God! Pandoras box, unlocked and lid thrown open— Michelle Bjorkman (@Michelle Bjorkman) 1553218986
@Reuters This is really sad to watch, “inspire children to be themselves “ what kind of creature is this 11 years o… https://t.co/eYutvrrkVx— Ayham (@Ayham) 1553219949
@Reuters Isnt this disgusting?— Joshua Bigfoot 🔶 (@Joshua Bigfoot 🔶) 1553239206
Here you have grown adults bullying a child because of his chosen form of creative expression. Whether or not that encompasses his identity as queer is immaterial.
Adults, strangers, are attempting to have this boy taken from his family, who--on professional advice--have chosen to allow their child to express himself.
"It does scare me, the level of violence that we get," said Wendy. "These people are really the abusers, honestly."
In the future, we look forward to Desmond writing a book about advocacy within the LGBTQ+ community that starts at a young age.
And we look forward to seeing the haters die out.