Vandals deface car with anti-gay slurs
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Jim Lowe/Times Argus |
Toolbox
By Peter Hirschfeld Times Argus Staff - Published: September 7, 2007
MONTPELIER – A car left in the Montpelier park-and-ride lot was spray painted with homophobic epithets early Tuesday morning in what appears to be the second hate-laced incident here in less than three weeks.
Alexis Smith of Plainfield filed a police report Wednesday after finding her old Toyota Corolla marred with slurs against the gay community upon her return from a three-day trip to Maine. The incident comes on the heels of an unsolved burglary on East State Street in which thieves etched swastikas inside a property owned by a local Jewish family.
"I feel like because of what else has gone on, this is a really big issue in Montpelier," Smith said Thursday, referring to the anti-Semitic symbols left in the Aug. 23 burglary. "This is not OK."
Smith, 41, said she isn't gay and is unsure why her vehicle was targeted. She said she worries the epithets, painted in large, yellow letters on the hood, driver-side windows and rear of her 1986 Corolla, were intended for someone else.
"There's somebody driving a white Toyota Corolla right now who could potentially be in danger," Smith said.
Montpelier Police Chief Tony Facos was unavailable for comment Thursday, and the police sergeant investigating the incident is on vacation, according to a Montpelier dispatcher.
It's unclear whether the vandalism constitutes a hate crime under Vermont law. The state's hate-crime law applies to conduct "maliciously motivated by the victim's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age, service in the armed forces of the United States, handicap … sexual orientation or gender identity."
Police have said they are treating the burglary in late August as a hate crime.
Smith's car was missing a headlight and had extensive body rust before the incident occurred. Yellow paint was sprayed on a headlight and side mirror, as well as the front windshield.
"I don't have any enemies that I know of," said Smith, who runs the Plainfield Community Center, among other things.
Shawn Lipinski is the health and wellness program director for the R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center in Burlington. He said Thursday that overt displays of homophobia unnerve gay and even straight Vermonters, instilling fear in a population by virtue of their sexuality.
He said Vermont, often portrayed as a progressive haven that celebrates its residents' diversity, isn't necessarily as tolerant as it may appear.
"I think there's a misconception there," Lipinski said. "People think things like this don't happen in Vermont because it's so progressive. But things like this are happening."
Smith said the incident has instilled a newfound awareness of injustices endured by the gay community.
"I'm not gay. I'm not a gay activist. But I am now," Smith said, shaving yellow paint off her windshield with a razor blade. "I'm going out to the flag store right now and putting a big rainbow flag on here."
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