17-year-old Brett McDowall loves nothing more than throwing on a wig, dress and makeup to become his drag alter ego Amberlea Fruitville.

His fascination with drag started when he was in the fourth grade. And his mother Randi McDowall has been supportive from the very beginning.

In fact, she recalls Brett loving wearing his sister’s tutu when he was just four years old.

‘When he first confided in me, I asked him did he feel like he was a girl in a boy’s body,’ Randi told Gay Star News. ‘He said no and that he loved being a boy.’

She then added: ‘I never stopped him from buying makeup and basically coming home from school and getting in full drag just to sit and watch TV or eat dinner.’

Brett came out as gay to his mother when he was 13.

With the love and support of his family and friends, Brett’s since gone on to attend various Pride parades, the Harvey Milk festival, Trevor Project charity events and theatre competitions as Amberlea.

He even went to his school prom in drag and he was ‘the hit of the night’, says his mother.

Brett has such a strong affinity with the drag community in his local area of Sarasota, Florida, leading drag queen Beneva Fruitville adopted him as his drag mother.

Randi revealed: ‘He participated in the audition film that Beneva sent in to be a contestant in RuPaul’s Drag Race.’

Teenage drag queen’s dad doesn’t understand

Randi divorced Brett’s father when her son was just two years old. They went through a five year-long custody battle, with Randi winning full custody.

‘He was very against Brett being involved in drama and dance instead of football and soccer,’ Randi said.

She said his dad doesn’t have a problem with Brett being gay, but him and his family just ‘don’t understand why he has to dress up in women’s clothing and wear make up.’

Randi said Brett’s father thinks his teenage drag queen son is transgender and that he doesn’t know the difference between being trans and dressing in drag.

She also said Brett wanted to walk in Sarasota’s Christmas parade in drag, but his father might be there.

Randi said: ‘I was worried that it would not be a supportive crowd.’

So she wanted to affirm her son’s gender identity by comprising a supportive tweet.

Randi wrote on Twitter: ‘PSA: My son is a drag queen. This means he likes to dress as a woman for performance purposes. He is not transgender, he identifies as a male and does not want to be a woman.

‘It’s hurtful to be rejected by family who don’t take the time to educate themselves,’ she wrote.

She also posted a photo of Brett out of drag, as well as Amberlea winning an award for Best Teen Vocalist at Access Broadway.

PSA: My son is a drag queen. This means he likes to dress as a woman for performance purposes. He is not transgender, he identifies as a male and does not want to be a woman. It’s hurtful to be rejected by family who don’t take the time to educate themselves. Please RT. pic.twitter.com/NEp1sqmGpq — Giggles (@ICantEven01) December 2, 2018

At the time of writing, the tweet has over 18,000 likes and over 5,000 retweets.

Randi revealed Brett wasn’t aware of his father’s confusion until after her tweet. Brett now plans on educating his dad on the issue.

‘Who knows what the outcome will be,’ Randi said.

Mom of teenage drag queen: ‘I could not be more proud of him’

Brett loves being a part of drag culture.

He’s a junior in a high school for performing arts and says although he has decided not to pursue theatre as a profession, he intends on performing in drag to finance his dream of going to college and majoring in animal studies.

He’d love to open up his own animal rescue shelter one day.

His mom Randi said: ‘What I love most about my son is that he has never been ashamed of his sexual identity or going out in drag. He is funny, an amazing singer and dancer and he owns it whenever he performs.

‘He is kind, sensitive, smart and extremely loving and he brings joy to so many people.’

She then added: ‘I could not be more proud of him.’

You can follow Amberlea Fruitville on Instagram.

See also:

The 16 guest judges we’d love to see on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK

Jasmine Masters reveals she walked off Drag Race set because of Shangela

Anti-gay Christians sue Texas library over drag queens reading books to kids