Disturbing signs at Pride
Frustrations mount over removal of hate graffiti

This year’s Pride festivities were marred by a series of hate graffiti slogans that began to appear over the course of the July 13-14 weekend.

Four buildings on Bank St between Florence St and Lewis St were tagged with the gold or green emblazoned words “No Fags.” One of these buildings was the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) offices on 20 James St.

Gray Johnson, manager of the James Street Feed Company, spotted the graffiti on 20 James on Sun morning and assumed it was sprayed on Sat night. From his large outdoor patio, one of several beer gardens along Bank St during Pride’s Street Party, the graffiti was distinctly visible and disturbing. Johnson covered the hateful message on Sun morning with a banner advertising a beer product.

On Monday morning after the banner was taken away, CUPE fielded several complaints and requests for the graffiti to be removed. The organization contacted their building contractor and had the graffiti cleaned up by Tue afternoon. Another building tagged was Capilano Pizzeria at 408 Bank St. The same “No Fags” slogan was written in both gold and red paint along the green side wall facing Florence St. The graffiti was partially removed by Tue morning, though remnants of the words are still visible and there was damage to the building in the process.

The other two buildings have been slower to remove the graffiti. Staples Office Supplies superstore at 403 Bank St had placed red paint over the green-lettered graffiti after Elizabeth Hall of People Against Discrimination spoke to the manager of the store and lodged a complaint. The words, however, are still visible. Hall has made complaints to both the Bank Street BIA (Business Improvement Association) and the City of Ottawa, but has been frustrated with the lack of response. She has also filed four separate police reports, one for each building.

Also frustrated is the manager of the Herb and Spice Shop at 375 Bank St. Her building was tagged on what she believes was Sun night with the same message in gold. Another individual later changed the words “No Fags” to “We Recruit More Fags & Lesbians” using chalk over the gold spray paint in a misguided attempt to neutralize the graffiti. Although the health store has been a target of graffiti before, the manager felt this was particularly offensive and also complained to the Bank St BIA.

It is clear that the graffiti in this particular location and at this particular time was meant to send a message that not all the residents of the so-called “gay village” welcomed the Pride street party festivities.

Hall finds it interesting that although the streets were closed off and there was lots of security at the time, the perpetrators managed to tag the area quickly and with relative anonymity. She feels that this probably means that the offender most likely lives in the area. “Because the writing is so similar, I feel there were probably only one or two people involved,” she says.

Hall has become a lone voice in the fight against hate-motivated graffiti over the last year and is surprised that more people haven’t seen that this continues to be an important issue for the whole community. While she continues to get positive feedback about her work, Hall senses a general complacency both within City Council and with the community at large.

“People don’t really want to talk about this issue, yet it does exist,” she says. The city is proposing a “zero tolerance” policy towards all graffiti, saying that one form of graffiti should not be prioritized but that all graffiti should be removed within a 24-hour period.

- printed in Capital Xtra, Issue #108, Aug 2, 2002. Photo of hate graffiti by Glenn Crawford.