Who could have seen this coming?

"You may perhaps have heard about the preteen drag performer who goes by the name “Desmond Is Amazing.” Desmond Napoles is an online sensation who’s appeared on “Good Morning America” and has become a cause célèbre among the LGBT community.

In January, a bit of a cultural scuffle happened that may have gone under the radar.

Desmond, who is managed by his parents, appeared in December, at the age of 11, at the 3 Dollar Bill, a New York City establishment that is either a “gay bar” (the description used by The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher) or “a queer, multifunctional performance space” (Out’s Devin-Norielle).

Desmond, after his performance, was tipped by members of the audience, leading commentators like Dreher to say it was “a manifestation of pedophilia, straight up.”

Devin-Norielle blamed Dreher — and all of perfidious “conservative media” — for “unleash[ing] a firestorm of misleading and fabricated news articles claiming that Desmond’s work as a drag performer is child abuse because, they claim, his performances are sexual and he receives tips.”

“These arguments are dangerous; conservative media has associated Desmond’s performance of drag with sexuality simply because he transgresses the binary and opts to express his femininity,” Devin-Norielle wrote. “Newsflash: gender identity and sexuality are not one and the same. Desmond’s exploration and toying of gender is not a discovery of his sexual attractions, nor is it a tactic to invite the sexual desires of others.”

Just to be clear, this is the performance we’re talking about. (Warning: Some people, many people, might find it disturbing.)

Fast forward to June, and Desmond’s mother — who, again, helps manage the child’s career — is now outraged that her son’s performance “invite[d] the sexual desires of others.”

I warn readers that we’re going to get into some rather disturbing territory here. I’d just as soon not report on it and I think most individuals would just as soon not read what’s been said about Desmond. That being said, there’s a reason why we need to examine this.

Tom O’Carroll is a British pedophile rights campaigner who has been convicted of distributing child pornography on a massive scale. In a May blog post for his WordPress site — which is openly and proudly pro-pedophile — O’Carrol declares that “Desmond is truly amazing — and hot!”

“Just check out this introductory video on YouTube. No wonder 11-year-old Desmond Napoles and other kids daringly diving into drag culture right now have provoked right-wing reactionaries into paroxysms of moral outrage,” O’Carroll writes.

“Let’s face it, when a pretty young boy tells the world he is gay and dances sensuously in front of grown men, wearing vampish dresses and makeup; when ‘she’ strips off items of clothing or goes on stage scantily clad right from the off; when dollar bills are accepted as ‘tips’ from an audience apparently wild with excitement; when all this is going on we are getting far more than just a celebration of gender diversity or an innocent display of precocious performance talent.

“And that’s great,” O’Carroll continues. “It is wonderful that a rare niche has been found in the modern, developed world within which at least a few kids can truly be themselves, in ways that deny neither their gender feelings nor their sexuality. Being a drag queen, or a drag princess if you will, puts it right out there, in the open for all to see. It says, loud and proud, ‘I am a sexy kid, with sexy feelings. It’s totally cool for grown-ups to get turned on by me. I love it. That’s why I do this stuff. It’s great. It’s fun. It’s me!’”

Desmond’s mother, Wendy Napoles, was predictably infuriated over O’Carroll’s vomit-inducing panegyric about her son and another child performer billed as “Queen Lactatia.”

“This is extremely disturbing. Convicted pedophile Tom O’Carroll has written a blog post stating that Desmond is hot & feels sexy performing. He also sexualizes fellow drag kid Queen Lactatia. We do not approve of his statements & have written to @wordpressdotcom several times but they have yet to remove it. It is highly inappropriate to speak of minors in this manner,” she wrote in an Instagram post this week."

MORE:

www.westernjournal.com/ct/mom-12-year-old-drag-queen-shocked-find-p...