Long Island congressional candidate’s signs defaced with “Gay Lover”
Democrat Perry Gershon's signs were removed from supporters' lawns, vandalized, and strewn throughout the district
A congressional candidate on Long Island, N.Y., has had his campaign signs defaced with the phrases “Baby Killer” and “Gay Lover” as the 2018 midterm campaigns enter their final week.
Perry Gershon, a Democrat challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin in New York’s 1st Congressional District, condemned the vandalism, telling the Riverhead Local News in a statement: “Hate mongering has no place in America, especially in political campaigns.”
Gershon’s campaign wrote in a Facebook post that at least 50 signs were stolen from supporters’ lawns and spray-painted with the insulting phrases before being placed throughout the district. Gershon says he believes the signs are a reference to his support of abortion and LGBTQ rights.
“The conversation with voters should be about ideas for improving their lives. I am proud to stand with women in fighting for the right to let them choose what is best for their own bodies, and I am proud to stand with the LGBTQ community in fighting for equality,” Gershon said in a statement.
“This is a nonpartisan, human issue. Toning down incivility is the only constructive path forward for Long Island and the country,” he continued. “I encourage Lee Zeldin to join me in condemning hate-based violence, intolerance, and related vandalism, wherever it occurs, and whomever perpetrates it.”
The Woodbury, N.Y-based LGBT Network is demanding that the incident be investigated as a hate crime.
“Supporters of Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin have shown their true colors by defacing lawn signs with anti-gay rhetoric,” LGBT Network President David Kilmick said in a statement issued Tuesday morning. “We are not even 72 hours removed from the deadliest anti-Semitic attacks in American history on the Jewish community and it is unconscionable that these signs displaying hate toward the LGBT community would appear throughout Suffolk County. This incident continues an onslaught by Republican candidates on the LGBT community over the past few months.”
Zeldin denounced the defaced signs in an interview with News 12 Long Island, saying his campaign has nothing to do with them and does not know who is behind the vandalism.
“No matter who it is, they need to knock it off. It’s not helpful,” Zeldin said. “It doesn’t help either campaign you’re trying to help.”
Chris Boyle, Zeldin’s campaign communications director, said their campaign has received reports of Zeldin for Congress signs being defaced or stolen from private property.
“Political violence and hate have no place in our political discourse,” Boyle said. “Whether it is defacing political signs, or assaulting people with opinions different than your own, scores need to be settled at the ballot box, not with hate and violence. Whoever is responsible needs to be held accountable.”
The incident comes amid an election season where tempers seem to be at an all-time high. National Democrats, in their attempt to win back control of Congress, have targeted up to 70 seats where they believe Republicans may be vulnerable, including the 1st District, which voted for Obama in 2012 before flipping to Trump in 2016. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the seat as “likely Republican.”
Gershon has not yet filed a police report, but Suffolk County police are aware of the incident and said detectives from its Hate Crimes Unit would be reaching out to his campaign, adding that it takes the matter seriously.
Police say that “the department has agreed to enhance patrols at the LGBT [Network]’s community center in Bay Shore” to help alleviate any fears that the signs may be a harbinger of violence directed against members of the LGBTQ community.
The LGBT Network says it is working with police to increase police presence at its Sag Harbor and Woodbury locations as well.
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