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Picture: Eman A/Instagram
Since the tragic deaths of 50 people at the hands of 29-year-old Omar Mateen in Orlando, social media has become one of the ways in which people are showing defiance against bigotry.
An outpouring of love washed across Twitter with trending hashtags such as #LoveIsLove, #TwoMenKissing and #GaysBreakTheInternet, and people have been holding vigils and rallies in solidarity with those who died.
A photograph unrelated to the shooting was taken by UK-based visual artist Eman Ali on Saturday, and after uploading it to her Instagram page, it has become a symbol of solidarity in its depiction of her three friends dressed in drag:
Her picture was picked up by writer Saleem Haddad, whose Facebook post has been shared and liked a combined 7,000 times so far. Haddad wrote a stirring caption about overcoming hatred, combined with Eman Ali's photograph:
My heart goes out to the victims of the homophobic attack in Orlando. So here is a photo of three Arab men in drag. Because f--k homophobia and f--k Islamophobia, and f--k the hypocrites who use one to justify the other. You all have blood on your hands.
And if this photo offends you, you have blood on your hands too.
After finding out her photograph had struck a chord with people after the shooting, Eman wrote:
This is a photo of my beautiful friends that I took on Saturday night expressing themselves openly and freely and not a staged one of them 'posing in solidarity'. I'm dizzy. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families of the victims.
More: People are sharing pictures of '#TwoMenKissing' in defiance of the Orlando killer's homophobia
More: The senselessness of blaming Islam for the LGBT shooting in Orlando
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