A devoted mum has told how she believes RuPaul’s Drag Race saved her son’s life - as the gender-bending performance art helped him realise that he is transgender.
Though assigned female at birth, Bailey Larsen, now 14, grew up feeling as if he did not belong, cutting off his long, blonde hair and wearing boyish clothes in a bid to feel more comfortable.
Eventually, in 2017, aged 11, he came out to his mum, child therapist Dana Larsen, 41, as non-binary – a person who does not identify rigidly as either a man or a woman.
Keen to encourage him to explore who he is, she decided to start watching RuPaul’s Drag Race with him, a VH1 show that sees fierce queens compete for the title of America’s next drag superstar.
Buoyed by the confidence of the performers he saw on screen, Bailey, who has now decided he would like to transition to male, and is taking hormone blockers, felt gradually more comfortable showing his true self to the outside world.
And now, he even has a sassy drag alter-ego of his own, Nemo.