UK

Dean Eastmond’s boyfriend pays heartbreaking tribute to the queer journalist who died this week

  • Sep 06 2017
  • Written by Jess Glass
Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

The boyfriend of the late journalist Dean Eastmond gave a beautiful tribute to the LGBT campaigner.

Appearing on on Victoria Derbyshire, Adam Packer described his boyfriend as: “the lip syncing twinkle in my eye, he’ll always be the person who wears glitter and fights for what’s right.”

Eastmond died on September 3 after a battle with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare cancer of the bone and soft tissue.

The 21-year-old writer and campaigner was diagnosed in 2016 and continued to write about his experiences throughout treatment both in the UK and the United States.

Dean Eastmond founded and edited HISKIND, a queer culture magazine distributed across London.

In the magazine, he wrote candidly about his cancer and LGBT+ discrimination within the healthcare system.

"[Dean]'ll always be the person who wears glitter and fights for what's right."
“[Dean]’ll always be the person who wears glitter and fights for what’s right.” (Photo: BBC)

Packer explained that Eastmond would want to be remembered for his writing.

“There’s a lot to remember about Dean and a lot people out there should know.

“Dean wanted people, through the cancer column, to have somewhere accessible and first hand about a cancer experience.”

“Dean gave that really frank and honest view through the column and through his writing which gave him power,” Packer added.

The campaigner’s journey affected many people, with celebrities including Troye Sivan and Nicole Scherzinger pouring out their support during his treatment.

Drag queen Charlie Hides visited Dean Eastmond days before his death to give him a stunning makeover.

Eastmond was surprised at Pride in London this summer, with a video from his loved ones shown on the main stage in Trafalgar Square.

Packer showed the programme some of the awards Eastmond had won for his activism, including an Attitude Pride award and a British LGBT award, which Eastmond had unfortunately not been able to announce prior to his death.

In the touching interview, Packer showed off the awards on the programme and said simply: “He did good.”

The hashtag #DeanEastmondSLAYED was trending on twitter after his death was announced.

Watch the interview here:

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