Copyright thepinknews
Police are appealing for information after an LGBTQ+ community centre in Colorado was vandalised. CCTV footage from Saturday morning (25 October) showed a man using a rock to try to smash windows at the centre on Colfax Avenue, in Strasburg, about 40 miles east of Denver. It is one of the state’s largest LGBTQ+ organisations. Several windows were damaged and have been boarded up with plywood with messages such as “love is love” and “love is stronger than hate” written across them. Kim Salvaggio, the chief executive of The Center on Colfax, told Denver7 that while the windows were made of tempered glass, so didn’t shatter, the emotional toll of the attack was far more damaging. “This is not something for the history of LGBTQ+ people that we’re unfamiliar with,” she said. “We know there are targets sometimes to our persons and to our community spaces and buildings.” This was the fourth attack on a queer business over the weekend, according to Parasol Patrol, a not-for-profit organisation that provides escorts for youngsters attending LGBTQ+ events. A spokesperson said they had heard of attacks on an inclusive salon, a queer gym and an LGBTQ-friendly boutique. The acts of vandalism were a message to silence the entire community, they added. “Denver cannot and must not normalise this.” The police have not confirmed whether the incidents were connected. Parasol Patrol’s executive director, Pasha Ripley, was “deeply alarmed” at the “escalation in violence toward queer spaces in our city”. Ripley went on to say the incidents did “not resemble random vandalism,” but were cases of “intimidation designed to push LGBTQIA+ people, families and especially youth-serving organisations back into fear and isolation”. Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
