Three drag queens came to the rescue of a New Zealand man in Sydney who was caught up in a homophobic attack and feared for his life.
Ivan Flinn was heading home from a night out on Oxford St and he stopped at a kebab shop on his way when a group of men started abusing him, shouting homophobic slurs like “you f*cking f****t”.
Flinn told them that they shouldn’t use the word ‘f****t’, particularly on Oxford Street, and one of the men attacked him, ripping his shirt, punching him and dislocating his jaw.”
He says the next thing he knew, Ivy League jumped in to save the day along with Coco Jumbo and Vybe.
“It happened very quickly,” says Flinn. “When the girls came it felt like seconds but I had so many thoughts within that time from being punched to when they strutted in to my rescue.”
“I honestly thought I was gonna die. Just like the person who died in Kings Cross bashing incident that caused the lock out law in Sydney. I was thinking oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I need help, please help. That’s when they came in.”
“To me, they were God send, they fought for me, they saved my life. They were my angels that night. I can’t say thank you enough.”
Ivy League told news.com.au that the drag queens had stopped for a kebab after work when they noticed the men shouting homophobic slurs before attacking Flinn.
“I said, ‘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.’”
She and the other drag queens jumped in, with Coco Jumbo – who used to play rugby league – throwing one of the men into the gutter after he pushed her fellow queen.
“I’m surprised my wig didn’t come off,” she said.
Flinn says after the incident he was quite shaken up.
“I was afraid… but I’m not the type to be a victim. I am where I am because I know how to turn lemons into lemonade. I didn’t want pity but I also want to warn everyone – this happened on Oxford Street!”
“At the same time, I also wanted to thank the girls, these guys are men underneath all that so their shoes are massive – I’ve seen Kinky Boots and those heels are not just made for them, they are big and expensive. The wigs too!”
“I wanted to thank them somehow by replacing their damaged items at the same time for others to know that they are heroes. That they saved my life.”
Police spoke to everyone involved on the night and say they are continuing to investigate, “including a possible motivation of homophobic bias,” which they treat extremely seriously.
To thank the drag queens who jumped in to help him, Flinn has raised over $6,000 to replace the wigs and heels that were damaged as a result of the fight.
