SPOKANE, Wash. — It's another day for Odyssey Youth Movement's executive director, Ian Sullivan, of responding to vandalism at the south Perry center.
"These folks are determined to break us down, make us feel like we don’t belong here," Sullivan shared.
The center said it was vandalized three nights in a row.
Sullivan said alleged vandals smeared paint on signs and the rainbow crosswalk, leading up to the building. The suspects also wrote hate speech on the center's walls in spray paint.
This occurred not even a full month after the crosswalk was graffitied in September.
Despite these repeated offenses, Sullivan said the LGBTQ presence isn't leaving Spokane or the Perry district.
"It’s that mix of immediate heart sink but knowing our people are here for us and we belong in this community,” Sullivan said.
Making sure the people at the center know they’re appreciated is neighbor Theora Rice.
She lives down the street from the center and feels for the young, queer people at the center of these incidents.
“This is a place where kids get support," Rice said. "I’ve had more than a few friends who got very needed support and outreach through that organization. I can only hope our community continues to rally and support the center because this center has supported the community for as long as I can remember.”
She said she doesn’t understand why the center is being attacked now when it’s been a presence in the Perry district for nearly 20 years.
The organization, itself, has been around for more than 30 years.
"It feels like either somebody went out of their way to make a statement because it’s getting more support and the Perry district is getting more support, as a whole, and potentially seen as a more privileged community as well," Rice shared. "Or it means there have been elements living here for years who are now unhappy.”
Rice said she's lived in Spokane for most to all of her life. When she first moved to the Perry district, she said it was a lot more prone to crime and danger.
"This used to be a much worse neighborhood and we weren't seeing as much of this then," Rice explained. "So the fact that we're seeing this now is odd to me."
Rice said when she moved in, the first thing she put up on her house was a rainbow flag to represent her and her roommates' queerness.
She said she's never had anyone damage her flag. She said the fact that only wind has frayed the ends is symbolic that the LGBTQ community prevails in the face of hate.
Rice said she hopes the kids and teens who use the center as a resource don't internalize the vandalism.
"This isn't something you have to absorb," rice said. "It's something you have to watch out for, of course. We always have to be situationally aware, especially as a minority, you always have to be situationally aware."
As an adult in the LGBTQ community, she said she'll continue to make sure young people feel they belong in the Perry district and Spokane.
She said she knows the center's leaders will do the same.
Thursday, Oct. 12, Odyssey Youth Movement and the South Perry Business and Neighborhood Association are hosting a 'Pop-up Pride' event from 4 to 6 p.m.
"We're blanketing the neighborhood with rainbow, glitter and unicorns," Sullivan said. "You can't tear down every rainbow flag, if there's one on every porch."
In preparation for that event, the center and Spokane Arts will be power washing the crosswalk Wednesday to get it as clean as possible for Thursday's celebration.
Spokane police is investigating the incidents, but Corporal Nick Briggs said the major crimes unit is not investigating the vandalism as hate crimes, at this time.
Briggs did say there have been an increased number of patrols around the neighborhood and the center since the 3-day streak of vandalism.
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