Boston LGBTQ Senior Housing Site Defaced By Haters

Boston.com reports:

An LGBTQ-friendly senior housing project in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood was found vandalized with hate speech Sunday morning.

LGBTQ Senior Housing Inc., a Massachusetts non-profit that works to create affordable housing for LGBTQ+ seniors, said in a Facebook post Sunday that signs at The Pryde — their current housing project in Hyde Park — had anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech spray-painted on them.

Pictures of the vandalism show frequent use of the derogatory f-word for homosexuals, as well as threats towards LGBTQ+ people and The Pryde itself.

Boston’s NPR affiliate reports:

Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo said he could not even verbalize the hateful words left behind at The Pryde. “They used well-known slurs and terms of hate for our LGBTQ+ communities, and they did include death threats and threats of arson,” Arroyo said.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden noted this is the second weekend in a row Boston has seen some form of hateful demonstration. He said his office will prosecute threats to the LGBTQ community.

Boston’s NBC affiliate reports:

LGBTQ Senior Housing announced an event at the site Sunday afternoon “to denounce hate and reaffirm the promise of a welcoming, inclusive and diverse Hyde Park.”

“To see cowards come out under the dark of night and try to intimidate or put their hate on this larger community, it doesn’t represent what we’ve seen throughout this multiyear process, and we are just going to move even faster to get this done,” Mayor Michelle Wu said at the event Sunday.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said Sunday that all threats to the LGBTQ+ community will be prosecuted.

The solidarity rally is in the first clip. Watch it.

Hate & acts of vandalism will not be tolerated at the Pryde—or anywhere in Boston.

This affordable, LGBTQ+ senior housing development has been led by local residents, boosted by neighborhood voices & fueled by united support. We will move even faster to get it done. ?️‍??️‍⚧️ pic.twitter.com/cG9knQnKqt

— Mayor Michelle Wu 吳弭 (@MayorWu) July 10, 2022