Little Gay Pub Vandalized Again, Police Searching for Suspect
D.C. police are asking for the public's help in identifying a man suspected of vandalizing Kamala Harris posters outside the Little Gay Pub.
The Metropolitan Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying a man who allegedly vandalized a political sign outside the gay bar The Little Gay Pub.
The man is accused of vandalizing multiple planters bearing the image of Vice President Kamala Harris surrounding the D.C. bar at 1100 P St. NW. The incident is believed to have occurred at around 8:23 a.m. on Saturday, September 23.
According to police, the man spray-painted “X” across the face of Harris on each sign. He also scrawled messages reading “Harris = Hitler” and “Trump > Hitler” on a nearby Metro bus stop and on posters outside the bar’s door.
The man was captured on video by the Little Gay Pub’s surveillance cameras.
MPD released a photo of the suspect and is asking community members with information to contact the department by calling 202-727-9099 or texting the MPD’s text tip line at 50411.
A reward of up to $1,000 is available for information leading to an arrest and indictment.
Little Gay Pub co-owner Dito Sevilla says the man police are searching for was previously caught on camera vandalizing the Kamala Harris posters with “HMS” on September 11.
It’s still unclear what those initials signify, or what the man’s motivation for defacing the posters was.
“Nobody has any idea what his motivation is,” Sevilla tells Metro Weekly. “We speculated, in the beginning, that [HMS] could have been “Hamas” without the vowels. But then on Saturday, he wrote on the bus stop that Kamala equals Hitler and that Trump is better than Hitler.”
Sevilla says that “citizen journalists” on social media have tried to identify the man in the photo released by MPD, tracking him down to a specific street in the city’s Shaw neighborhood.
Sevilla says it is frustrating to see the Little Gay Pub targeted for exercising political speech, especially in the nation’s capital, where political involvement is part of the city’s identity.
“It does feel a little bit violating, because it is our personal property,” he says. “These posters are custom-made and they are made with care and they’re specific sizes for that specific purpose. It’s not like we can just go out and replace them so easily….
“I find it preposterous and stupid, frankly, for somebody to keep defacing something [that expresses] our opinion, and something that we put up so that our clientele knows exactly who we support,” he continues. “We live in our bubble of D.C., where 95% of the people are going to vote for Kamala Harris. And you think that would be a safe [political] opinion. There’s always going to be some dissent, but we wish they would do that in a more constructive, economical and on-their-own-dime manner.”
MPD noted in a press release that the incident is being investigated as potentially motivated by hate or bias, and has enlisted the help of the Special Liaison Branch in investigating the crime.
That designation means bias enhancements could be added to the vandalism and property damage charges if prosecutors see fit or uncover evidence proving anti-LGBTQ animus. However, just because police designate the incident as a hate crime does not mean prosecutors will pursue bias enhancement in the future.
Sevilla says the bar is not seeking extreme vengeance against the perpetrator.
“We’re not trying to see this man go to jail for years and years,” he says. “It’s just a matter of we want [him] to stop. We want to be able to put up our signs, and enchant our guests in peace and harmony, as we did for years before.”
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