Isaac Keatinge is a gender nonconforming person who happens to live in Newtown, Sydney. Mx had the audacity to dress up for a party this weekend. As a result of this, Isaac was brutally attacked by what one can only assume are a group of aggressive, small minded, ignorant cowards.
Disclaimer: this article in no way represents the opinions of Genderqueer Australia. So should these aggressive small minded ignorant cowards lawyer up, I’ll happily repeat my opinions in court under oath.
Isaac comments thus:
“They started insulting the way I was dressed. They asked me why I was dressed like a woman, that I must be a faggot … Insults were exchanged on both sides,” Mx Keatinge told Fairfax Media.
“They surrounded me and the punches came so rapidly.
Call me naive, but is this not the second decade of the 21st century? Not, say the 1970s? Haven’t the thugs of Newtown got anything better to do?
Isaac makes the point that this is one of the outcomes that could be avoided through programs such as Safe Schools Coalition, so hated by arch conservative politicians and other organisations, and goes on to suggest that conformity is not a long-term solution.
Thankfully the police are on-side, proving that this is not an incident that’s dropped through a time-warp from the 1970s.
Newtown Local Area Commander, Superintendent Simon Hardman said targeting people based on bias related perceptions is unacceptable in today’s society.
“This report is extremely concerning and absolutely unacceptable. NSW Police will follow every avenue of investigation possible.
“Police will investigate all motivations for alleged crime, including motivations of bias,” Supt Hardman said.
Let’s hope these gutless miscreants are hunted down and punished appropriately, because Australia is diminished by those who attack others just for the way they look.
Read the full report on The Sydney Morning Herald (who we hope asked if Isaac was happy being described as a “man”):
Man targeted in vicious attack because he wore a dress, police suspect
