Queer artwork defaced in Bay Ridge, second anti-LGBTQIA+ incident since April

Bay Ridge faces it second public anti-queer incident in the past two months.

Photo via Twitter

A vandal defaced queer-affirming artwork painted outside of a southern Brooklyn elected’s office on June 21, marking Bay Ridge’s second anti-LGBTQIA+ incident in the past two months.

Residents installed the chalk painting of rainbows and the phrase “Love is love” over the weekend in response to a comment about transgender people Assembly Member Alec Brook-Krasny made during a community board meeting on June 15.

But community members awoke on June 21 to find the painting covered in black spray paint. 

Jason Graubard, a director of the local organization GayRidge, says the community has seen more displays of hate towards queer people, including degrading graffiti or public comments made by officials.

“Over the past few months Bay Ridge has seen a dramatic escalation of people and harmful acts towards the LGBTQIA+ community in Bay Ridge and all of south Brooklyn,” he said.

The now-defaced mural came in response to a controversy surrounding Brook-Krasny, who  quoted the declaration of independence before making a comment towards transgenderism during a meeting hosted by Community Board 10 that upset some members of the queer community. 

“I don’t have to tell you, you all remember the Declaration of Independence and the words about self-evident truths,” the assembly member said. “Now who knows what self-evident truth is. Who is a boy? Who is a girl?”

The pol stood by his comments in a tweet on June 16, calling the LGBT+ community “hyper- sexual.”

“The LGBTQ+ community and even “pride” itself is inherently sexual. Every letter literally represents a sexual orientation,” Brook-Krasny said online. “I would even go as far as to say that it’s hyper-sexual. Anyone can go to a pride parade and see for themselves that it is very sexualized.” 

According to Graubard, people appear to be emboldened with how they…