MICHIGAN: Anti-Gay Car Shop Owner Blames Vandalism On "Evil Homosexuals"

Via Michigan Live:

Already targeted by an egg-thrower and protestors, a Grandville auto shop came under fire from a can of spray paint days after its outspoken owner created a controversy with his anti-gay Facebook posts. Graffiti was sprayed on the Dieseltec building overnight. The message: "I (heart sign) NUTS." Dieseltec owner Brian Klawiter last week created headlines and set off a social-media firestorm when announced on Facebook he would refuse to provide service to openly gay customers. The stance led to a protest Saturday outside of his business at 2875 Ottawa Ave. SW. Grandville Police Chief Dan Steere on Monday said he had no intention of stationing a police officer at the place, but said police would keep an eye on the area with additional patrols.

Klawiter has posted more photos on his Facebook page. The photos include a window apparently broken by a rock and the message "Bash Back" written on the windshield of a truck.  He writes:

Well, folks, as we predicted, it didn't take long for the ugly face of the homosexual movement to present itself. What started out with "mere" death threats against myself and my family and homosexuals spamming my Facebook page with gay porn shots, has escalated to physical violence. See the pics below. We called police to file a report this morning, and City of Grandville Officer John Davis responded. The officer arrived, looked around, took a few notes, chuckled, and said "turn it in to the insurance company." He gave us a Police Report number 15-2779, but did not take the rock which has a fingerprint on it. The homosexual agenda is evil, and is prepared to destroy anyone who gets in its way, or who calls homosexuality a sin. Today it's us; tomorrow, it could be you.

At this point there's no way to know who damaged the shop or if it was an inside job meant to further inflame anti-gay sentiment. But it should go without saying that our people should not be doing things like this.

RELATED: In 2009 a Michigan-based gay anarchist group calling themselves Bash Back was sued in federal court by the Alliance Defending Freedom after they invaded a local church, pulled the fire alarm, and threw leaflets at parishioners. At that time I wrote: "It was a dumbass, pointless, unfocused action directed at hapless nobodies. Nothing but a black eye for our movement."

Billboard Of The Day

God's Gentle People in Chico, California didn't like the "Don't Believe In God?" message of the above billboard. Also vandalized was the website for the local atheists group.

SF's MUNI Vandal Has Been Busted

San Francisco's infamous MUNI vandal has been busted.

A Chronicle photo of the man smashing the front window of the bus during post-World Series celebrations was widely circulated online, and police say tips led to the arrest of Gregory Tyler Graniss, 22, of San Francisco. Graniss was booked Tuesday night on charges of felony vandalism and injuring or destroying a passenger transit vehicle. The latter charge is also a felony. “This was a senseless act of destruction and there is no tolerance for such criminal behavior in San Francisco,” police chief Greg Suhr said in a release. ”With assistance from the public, investigators moved swiftly to identify this suspect and make an arrest. Investigators are also working tirelessly to identify those responsible for setting the bus on fire and to bring them to justice.”

Let's hope those two felony charges come with a massive restitution fine. (Tipped by JMG reader Cuberly)

SAN FRANCISCO: Windows Smashed At Castro's GLBT Historical Society

From their Facebook page:

Two windows at The GLBT History Museum were smashed in an act of vandalism around 4:45 a.m. this morning (Oct. 29). Our staff responded immediately, as did the San Francisco Police Department. None of the historical objects on display were damaged. The museum will be closed today so we can start repairs, but we expect to open tomorrow for our normal hours.

Donate to the repair fund.  I was just in there with Dr. Jeff two weeks ago. Dammit.

PA Billboard Vandalized On First Day

Pennsylvania's Christians clearly do not approve of the posting of billboards containing verbatim quotes from the Bible. The verse itself would likely have been stripped too, but it was out of the reach of the vandals.

LONDON: Gay Bookstore Vandalized

London's famous Gay's The Word bookstore was struck by vandals over the weekend.

Staff at the Marchmont Street store came to work this morning to find the front window smashed and the shopfront had been pelted with eggs. Assistant manager Uli Lenart told PinkNews.co.uk that witnesses reported seeing a group of youths “rampaging” up and down the street at around 12.30am and throwing eggs at another store. He said the gang, who were on bicycles, left the scene and reappeared ten minutes later with a rock and a bottle, which they threw through the shop’s front window before running off.

It's not clear if the store was singled out as a gay business, but its manager noted that no other business had its windows smashed.

FRANCE: Andres Serrano's Piss Christ Destroyed By Catholic Protesters

After weeks of demonstrations, yesterday Catholic protesters in France destroyed NYC artist Andres Serrano's classic and controversial Piss Christ. The UK Guardian reports:

The work has previously been shown without incident in France, but for the past two weeks Catholic groups have campaigned against it, culminating in hundreds of people marching through Avignon on Saturday in protest. Just after 11am on Sunday, four people in sunglasses entered the gallery where the exhibition was being held. One took a hammer from his sock and threatened security staff. A guard restrained one man but the remaining members of the group managed to smash an acrylic screen and slash the photograph with what police believe was a screwdriver or ice pick. They then destroyed another photograph, of nuns' hands in prayer.

Protests against the photograph had also gained the support of France's far-right National Front party. The gallery's owner says the destroyed artwork will remain on display "so people can see what barbarians can do."

CALIFORNIA: Vandals Rip Out "Equality" From Gay-Friendly Church Banner

Vandals have literally ripped out equality from the banner of a gay-friendly church in California.

Rev. Kathy Cooper-Ledesma, a senior pastor at the church, said church leaders are asking the congregation to pray for those who defaced their banner. "Our belief that hate is not a Christian value remains firm," she said. "And while they can take the 'equality' out of the banner, they can't take it out of our understanding of the Gospel." The iconic church, located on the corner of Franklin and Highland avenues, is over 100 years old, and has been fighting for marriage equality for years, said Chad Darnell, a marketing coordinator for the church. He said this was the second time that a banner was vandalized this month. The first banner was stabbed multiple times and this was the replacement banner.

The church has hosted video shoots for the NOH8 campaign. Police are investigating.

(Via - Towleroad)

LGBT Book Section Vandalized At Harvard

Harvard police say a section of LGBT books were destroyed in the university library by a vandal who doused the shelves with urine.

Security staff at Lamont Library said in a report filed with campus police on Friday that it appeared someone poured urine on the books on Nov. 24. An empty bottle was found nearby. A police spokesman tells The Crimson student newspaper that all the books were about lesbian, gay and same-sex marriage issues. Library spokeswoman Beth Brainard says it took so long to report the incident because staff wanted to assess the value of the books. She says they were worth several thousand dollars and will be discarded.

And this accomplished, what?

LOS ANGELES: Latino AIDS Memorial Vandalized With Yellow Paint

Karen Ocamb reports that the Wall Las Memorias in Los Angeles has been splashed with yellow paint by unknown vandals.

The Wall Las Memorias – an inspirational art project dedicated as a Latino AIDS monument on World AIDS Day in 2004 – has been vandalized. Apparently a mother went to see the name of her son on the Wall in Highland Park and found a section of the mural splashed in yellow paint. The Wall’s founder Richard Zaldivar told me: “The vandalism was done to the section of the AIDS mural that depicts a child saying, ‘I once knew a child with AIDS.’ And so it is really sad and very troubling that someone would use this opportunity to damage a piece of art that was created for the purpose HIV prevention and education to our community.

Las Memorias Project will update the story on their Facebook page.

Vandals Strike At Four House Democrats

Teabaggers are throwing bricks through the office windows of House Democrats.

The window broken Friday at the Niagara Falls office of Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, was one of at least four cases of vandalism targeting Democratic offices across the country late last week during the debate over health care reform. A window was also broken at the Monroe County Democratic headquarters in Rochester. In Tuscon, Ariz., a window at the office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords also was broken. And at Democratic headquarters in Sedgewick County, Kan., a brick with anti-Obama and anti-health care messages was thrown. At Slaughter’s office on Pine Avenue, a piece of brick and a broken window were discovered at about 12:30 a. m. Friday. The brick shattered the outermost window but not an interior window. Damage was estimated at $350. Niagara Falls Police Capt. William Thomson, chief of detectives, said officers recovered the brick and found a few scuff marks but were unable to find any fingerprints.

Note that all these incidents happened before the bill was even approved.

(Tipped by JMG reader JoeAO)

UC Davis LGBT Center Vandalized

The LGBT center at the University of California campus in Davis was struck by graffiti vandals over the weekend. For now, the damage will remain as a symbol of anti-gay sentiment. From a UC Davis bulletin:

On the night of February 26th the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center experienced acts of vandalism. The entrance to the LGBTRC was defaced with derogatory and hateful words that target the Queer community. This vicious hate crime demonstrates the need for community centers like ours to exist in order to offer a safe space on campus and combat the homophobia, discrimination, and hate that is still prevalent within our society. As a center we wanted not to immediately remove the vandalism in order to ensure that this hate crime does not go unnoticed by the campus community. Facilities and administration offered to clean it up immediately but we wanted to take this opportunity to educate the campus about struggles that our community continues to face. We feel it is easier to erase physical representations of violence than to heal from the ongoing impacts of this hatred. Erasing it makes it possible to avoid believing these things happen on our campus. We want to work towards a healing resolution.

There has been a rash of such incidents in recent months, with vandalism of LGBT centers seen in Orlando, Long Island, and elsewhere.