Watch: LGBTQ+ Senior Housing Construction Vandalized; Neighborhood Shows Solidarity
The construction site for new housing friendly to LGBTQ+ seniors was vandalized with hate speech in a Boston neighborhood, prompting local residents to come together in a show of support, according to CBS Boston.
"The Pryde, which broke ground less than a month ago, will turn an old middle school in Hyde Park into 74 mixed-income senior housing units," reported local news channel NBC Boston. "It is not expected to be open until late 2023."
Reports said that spray-painted messages brimming with homophobic and anti-transgender hate appeared around the site overnight and were reported on the morning of July 10. But by that evening, the neighborhood had made its position known, coming out in force and covering the vandalism with handmade signs voicing support for the LGBTQ+ community.
"The words are so hateful and just so unnecessary," Hyde Park resident Chris Roberts told CBS. "And what harm is any of us doing by wanting to live in a school that's being converted to affordable housing?"
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was among those who gathered to reject the messages of hate. "To see cowards come out in the dark of night and try to intimidate or put their hate on this larger community — it doesn't represent what we have seen throughout this multiyear process" of getting the housing project underway, Wu said.
The developers of The Pryde, too, showed their rejection of the hateful messages, taking to Facebook with a post in which they vowed, "We will not let bullies and cowards stop our work to create safe and welcome affordable housing for our LGBTQ elders," NBC Boston reported. "We will not let hate go unchallenged in Hyde Park."
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden also denounced the anti-LGBTQ+ vandalism, saying in a statement, "This is the second straight weekend of Boston being marred by hatred and intolerance."
Hayden was likely referring to a march through Boston on July 2 involving an estimated 100 members of the right-wing extremist group Patriot Front. The marchers wore hats and face coverings, and some carried riot shields. A Black city resident, Charles Murrell, was reportedly assaulted by some of those involved in the march. No arrests have been made yet in that case.
Hayden's statement declared, "My office will prosecute threats to the LGBTQ+ community wherever and whenever they occur."
Watch the NBC News report below.