Emilia Decaudin
Emilia Decaudin is a
21-year-old transgender
rights activist, Democratic
Party official,
and recent graduate of the
City College of New York.
Emilia first entered the
world of politics at age
16, when she volunteered
on Bernie Sanders’
2016 campaign.
Since then, she has
been involved in numerous
campaigns for
federal, state, and local
office.
She is also a founding
member of Zoomers Caucus
and of the New York
Progressive Action Network.
In September 2018, Emilia
was elected as the youngest-ever
and first out transgender member
of the New York State Democratic
Committee, representing the 94th
Assembly District in Westchester
County.
The following October, she
spearheaded a successful effort to
amend the rules of the State Committee
to remove unnecessary references
to the gender binary and
to accommodate the election of
non-binary members. She is continuing
her efforts to foster inclusion
of transgender and non-binary
New Yorkers through her
project Binary-Free NYC.
In June of this year, Emilia
was elected as one of the first two
openly transgender Democratic
district leaders in New York City,
representing Queens’ 37th Assembly
District.
Even as she sought election
to a party position in Queens,
Emilia was willing to speak
out against a consultant
to a powerful city councilmember
from the borough,
Donovan Richards
– who went on to
win the June Democratic
primary for borough
president – when that
consultant posted a series
of inflammatory comments
about transgender
and non-binary individuals.
“Using the term womxn allows
those non-binary people to be
included in spaces that they ‘obviously’
deserve to be in without
invalidating their gender or forcing
them to identify as something
they are not,” Emilia wrote in response
to the consultant’s social
media posts.
In an interview with Gay City
News, Emilia argued that the
inflammatory rhetoric she challenged
falls into the same category
as homophobia, sexism,
xenophobia, and racism because
although the consultant said
she does not hate, the language
was voiced in a way that could
be deemed dehumanizing and
invalidating of peoples’ identities.
She argued that candidates
for borough president should be
mindful of the inclusive policies
and practices expected of them
should they be elected.
In her spare time, she is a freelance
web and graphic designer.
Emilia was born and raised in
Westchester County in a family
of French immigrants. She
currently resides in Sunnyside,
Queens.
Democratic
District Leader,
37th Assembly
District
in Queens
Desmond Is Amazing
Desmond Napoles,
whose stage name is
Desmond is Amazing,
is a 13-year-old
drag kid, award-winning LGBTQ
advocate and outspoken
gay youth, model, public speaker,
performer, fashion designer,
author, founder of his own drag
house and a member of the original
pioneering voguing house,
the House of UltraOmni, and a
Brooklyn icon.
Most importantly, he is an inspiration
to many and a symbol
of hope for the future.
Desmond first developed an
interest in drag when he was a
toddler. When his mother was
watching “RuPaul’s Drag Race,”
he would stop playing with his
toys to join her. He thought the
queens were amazing and beautiful.
He made his professional
drag debut at age seven in “Ru-
Paul’s Drag Race” Season 5 winner
Jinkx Monsoon’s video for
“The Bacon Shake.”
Desmond’s philosophy as an
advocate is always be yourself
and pay haters no mind because
they “will never be as fierce as you
and I.” He has earned the Marsha
P. Johnson Don’t Be Outraged, Be
Outrageous Award from Heritage
of Pride and a Queeroes
Award from Conde Nast
Them. Desmond was listed
on the 2018 Dazed100 and
among the Out100 top influencers.
He is also the
founder of the first-ever
drag house for drag kids,
the Haus of Amazing.
Desmond has slayed
the runways at New York
Fashion Week, including
for Gypsy Sport, The
Blonds x Disney Villains, and
Nicopanda’s MAC Cosmetics collaboration
with Macy’s. He has
appeared in Vogue magazine four
times, breaking the age and gender
boundaries of the fashion industry.
Desmond has designed his
own line of fans with Daftboy,
T-shirts with Drag Queen Merch,
and a line of lashes with Chimera
Lashes.
For Macmillan Children’s
Publishing Group, Desmond
wrote “Be Amazing: A History
of Pride” to teach young
children how to have
self-confidence and express
themselves, and his
first inspirational music
single, “We Are All Amazing,”
is releasing this year.
In his spare time, Desmond
enjoys collecting miniature
trains, playing with
Hot Wheels, drawing maps,
playing video games, visiting
parks and zoos, and building
virtual roller coasters. He would
like to study ornithology or engineering
in the future.
What inspires Desmond most
is the feedback he receives from
other drag and LGBTQ kids. Oftentimes
they describe how he
helped them discover the importance
of self-expression and
gave them the courage to come
out. With his “Amazies,” he emphasizes,
“Be yourself, always.”
Iconic Drag Kid
from Brooklyn
2020 Impact A 10 wards | GayCityNews.nyc