Gay Monument in The Hague Vandalized with Anti-Gay Graffiti
metroweekly.comDutch News, a website that reports on news from the Netherlands in English for an international audience.The graffiti painted at the monument site and on the benches included drawings and anti-gay slogans, including “fuck gays,’ “fuck Pride,” and “weg met pride,” or “down with Pride.”The IHDH noted that the monument’s rainbow faces have been defaced multiple times before, ever since it was unveiled in 1993.“For example, the bench at Huijgenspark has been destroyed several times.
The rainbow flag was also regularly pulled out of the ground last year, resulting in the arrests of two teenage boys.The IHDH said the monument will be repaired as soon as possible.Mariëlle Vavier, the alderman in The Hague who handles anti-discrimination issues, called the graffiti “unacceptable.”“It is a serious form of vandalism that stems from homophobia,” she said, according to the NL Times. “The Homomonument is a symbol of acceptance and freedom.
It is a place where oppressed and persecuted queer people are commemorated. We will never accept hate speech and discrimination.”The vandalism of the Homomonument follows a string of homophobic attacks on property across the Netherlands in recent months.
In May, vandals set fire to a rainbow flag outside an LGBTQ association’s headquarters in Delft. In April, a group of about 20 adults attacked a building where a group of gay teens were meeting, beating up a volunteer working with the teens and attempting to set fire to a rainbow flag hanging from the building’s exterior while shouting anti-gay slurs.
