Trio Of Australian Drag Queens Save Man From Homophobic Attackers
Three Sydney drag queens sashayed to the rescue earlier this month when a man was being punched and called anti-gay slurs at a local kebab shop.
“I am a bit religious and I really thought I was going to die," Ivan Flinn, 34, tells news.com.au. "I was praying for a hero and I got three angels."
Coco Jumbo, Ivy League, and Vybe were getting a late-night snack after performing in Sydney's Darlinghurst neighborhood, which is known for its large gay population and venues. Flinn had just left a bar on Oxford Street's famous gay strip.
“There were heaps of homophobic slurs... all the slurs you can possibly imagine,” Flinn says of his attackers. When he told the group of men not to use the word "faggot," especially on Oxford Street, one of the men allegedly ripped his shirt and punched him, dislocating his jaw.
“After the punch I was stunned," Flinn recalls, "but the next thing I knew Ivy went in and was scrapping with the guy who punched me. They’re in the middle of the road, cars swerving around them, tooting, and I saw the guy rip her wig off. They were bashing each other and she’s still wearing her high heels.”
“Those boys shit themselves, they weren’t ready for some drag queens on top of them," says Luke Karakia, who performs as Ivy League. “Growing up gay, I’ve been picked on and bullied and there comes a time when you fight back and you don’t care if you’ll get hurt or what happens to your wig."
When the attackers called the drag queens "freaks," Karakia told them, "‘You want to pick on little guys, you’ll need to fight the big freak. I’m a man underneath all of this, so let’s go.'” His leg was injured and his wig was destroyed during the scuffle.
“A guy pushed Ivy so I picked him up and threw him into the gutter," says Luke Waqa, who performs as Coco Jumbo. “I don’t think they knew what they were getting themselves into. I used to play rugby league. Plus, I have an older brother."
Flinn later created a successful GoFundMe page to raise money to help replace the queens' damaged wigs and heels.
“I really thought I was going to die that night if he had kept punching me," he says. "The drag queens fought my fight for me, they are my heroes.”
Flinn, the queens, and the alleged attackers all spoke to police at the scene. “Police are continuing to investigate the incident, including a possible motivation of homophobic bias," says a police spokesperson. “NSW Police treats all matters of violence extremely seriously, including bias crimes motivated by sexuality or gender.”
