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Photo via Heaps Gay/Instagram

Man beaten for wearing a dress reclaims his image in stunning photographs

'There is a true strength in expressing your best self unashamedly.'

 

Lyz Lenz

IRL

Posted on May 16, 2016   Updated on May 26, 2021, 6:46 pm CDT

In April, Isaac Keatinge was brutally attacked while wearing a dress. Keatinge, who identifies as queer, told BuzzFeed that he was walking toward King Street in Sydney, Australia, when some men began to yell anti-transgender slurs.

 “They verbally assaulted me, comments about wearing a dress, ” Keatinge told BuzzFeed. “I responded in kind. I wasn’t afraid of going up to them to talk and try to diffuse the situation.” 

But when he approached the men, he was attacked. Keatinge’s friends took him to a hospital and not long after, his face, bloodied and bruised, showed up all over the Internet.

A month later, Keatinge is taking his image back, posing with friends in a high-fashion shoot for Heaps Gay, a site by and for the queer community in Australia. 


Samuel Leighton-Dore, editor of Heaps Gay and author of the article, wrote, “Our goal was to give the story a much needed positive twist, proving once and for all that not only are the gender binaries of clothing completely outdated and fucked up, but there is a true strength in expressing your best self unashamedly.”

Most of the comments in response to the article have been positive.


https://twitter.com/lizmulhall/status/732154279457263616


In one comment, Dore adds, “We have the right to be resilient and proud.”

h/t Buzzfeed

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*First Published: May 16, 2016, 12:49 pm CDT