Anti-LGBTQ Vandalism Runs Rampant in Spokane

metroweekly.com:

KHQ-TV.The bystander, a neighborhood resident, reportedly interrupted the action on the night in question.The incidents come after the Pride mural in front of the LGBTQ youth center was defaced back in September — actions that appear to indicate that the Odyssey Youth Movement was deliberately targeted. “The fact that this has happened, now, three nights in a row, and the fact that this happened a month after the initial vandalism as well, this is a pattern, this is a repeat, which is very intimidating, to say the least, and terrifying, to say the most,” Ian Sullivan, the executive director of Odyssey Youth Movement, told KHQ.Sullivan added that the acts appear “designed to make LGBTQ+ youth and young adults feel unwelcome and othered in their own community.”“We’re all saddened to hear that someone continues to vandalize the new rainbow crosswalk and Odyssey Youth facility,” Michelle Weaver, the South Perry Neighborhood and Business Association president, said in a statement. “Hate runs counter to our values here in the Perry District.”The Spokane Police Department is investigating.

It is unclear whether those responsible may face hate crime or bias charges if they are ever arrested.Last Thursday, Odyssey Youth Movement held a “pop-up Pride” event in the South Perry District on October 12, inviting locals to check out local businesses supporting the LGBTQ community, including Wishing Tree Books, a local bookstore that was co-sponsoring the pop-up event.