Anti gay slurs in graffiti on Rockland County Pride Center in New York – The Journal News
NYACK – An anti-gay invective in blue letters, all caps, appeared on the outside walls of the Phyllis B. Frank Rockland County Pride Center on Wednesday, center officials reported.
The anti-gay words were scrawled under decorative flags, reading “Fight for Our Future,” that line the brick building.
“Incidents of hateful graffiti, threats, and intimidation tactics are rising at LGBTQ+ community centers around the country,” Brooke Malloy, executive director of the center, said in a statement.
“These are the inevitable expression of a political moment charged with violence and hatred of LGBTQ+ people,” Malloy said. “We’ve already seen what happens when elected officials embolden individuals to take action to ‘protect children.’ ”
Malloy, standing outside the Pride Center on Thursday, said that in some ways, the most surprising part of the graffiti attack was that it didn’t happen sooner. She cited a political climate where attacks on individuals, including in the LGBTQ community, has become acceptable. But, she added, “we’re not going anywhere.”
Nyack Mayor Don Hammond stopped by the Pride Center Thursday to show his support. “We consider ourselves a safe community where this type of thing is not acceptable,” Hammond said. “We are so proud to have the Pride Center here and we stand in solidarity with them.”
Rockland County Executive Ed Day, responding to the incident, said “Hate has no home in Rockland County.”
“I am disgusted by this type of vandalism surfacing here in Rockland and condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
Day said that “words matter and we must not allow intolerance to grow or fester in this beautiful county that we all call home. .. Despite any differences we all seek the same things; a safe and welcoming place to live and work.”
Rockland County Commissioner of Human Rights Spencer Chiimbwe condemned the incident and called it horrific.
“The Commission will always remain supportive of the work of the Rockland County Pride Center and all other organizations that are working to make our county a great place,” Chiimbwe said. “No form of social animus will prevent our collective zeal from fighting such frontiers of hate in Rockland County.”
Anyone with information is asked to call or email the Orangetown Police Department at 845-359-3700 and orangetownpd@orangetown.com.
The police have a substation located across the street from the center.
The Pride Center offers various support groups and services to families and individuals.
Its mission statement reads: “Our purpose is to support and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, challenge stereotypes and practices that adversely impact Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people, and provide a wide range of services to ensure equitable resources and opportunities for all – with no exceptions.”
“No matter what happens: we’re here, we’re queer. Period,” Malloy said. “Nothing can change the reality that we are your teachers, neighbors, doctors, and pastors. We are your children whether you choose to see us or not.
“To hate us is to hate a part of yourself.”
Affirmative support, according to organizations that support the LGBTQ community, can be life-saving.
The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth. LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers.
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But the Trevor Project research showed that “LGBTQ youth who lived in an accepting community, had access to LGBTQ-affirming spaces, and/or felt high social support from family and friends reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide in the past year.”
The Pride Center has invited the community to a rally at 3 p.m. Sunday outside the Pride Center at 28 S. Franklin St.
A home for pride
The center, as a physical space, came into being in 2016. After renovations, programs began in the building, including support groups and social opportunities for families, seniors, teens and the community at large.
A former Elks Lodge, the Pride Center’s two-story brick building sits at the corner of South Franklin Street and Jackson Avenue, which also now carries the honorific Bayard Rustin Way, renamed last summer to honor the civil rights leader and out gay man who was an architect of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom who once lived in the Nyacks.
Anti-bias incidents have been increasing in recent years, according to national crime statistics.
In November, a shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, killed five and injured another 17. The suspect has been charged with murder and hate crimes.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced stepped-up security and surveillance by state and local police that month for LGBTQ facilities and Jewish houses of worship and organizations following thwarted attacks on the Jewish community in New York City and the Colorado shooting.
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland.
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