Gay Monument in The Hague Vandalized with Anti-Gay Graffiti
Vandalism is the latest in a string of incidents targeting the LGBTQ community in various cities throughout the Netherlands.
A monument in the Netherlands that is dedicated to LGBTQ people who have been persecuted due to their sexual orientation has been vandalized with anti-gay graffiti.
The International Homomonument on the Koekamp, a seven-meter tall steel sculpture, is designed to commemorate all people who have been persecuted or oppressed because of their sexual orientation, both at the present time and in the past. The monument is located in The Hague, a city which is home to both the Dutch Parliament and the United Nations’ International Court of Justice.
The rainbow benches — with rainbow colors symbolizing sexual and gender minorities — next to the monument were also vandalized, according to the IHDH, the foundation that looks after the memorial.
“The foundation’s board is extremely concerned about this development, in which memorial sites and other places are being defaced with hateful texts,” the IHDH said in a statement.
The foundation has made a formal complaint to police reporting the vandalism, reports Dutch News, a website that reports on news from the Netherlands in English for an international audience.
The graffiti painted at the monument site and on the benches included drawings and anti-gay slogans, including “fuck gays,’ “fuck Pride,” and “weg met pride,” or “down with Pride.”
The IHDH noted that the monument’s rainbow faces have been defaced multiple times before, ever since it was unveiled in 1993.
“For example, the bench at Huijgenspark has been destroyed several times. The rainbow flag was also regularly pulled out of the ground last year, resulting in the arrests of two teenage boys.
The IHDH said the monument will be repaired as soon as possible.
Mariëlle Vavier, the alderman in The Hague who handles anti-discrimination issues, called the graffiti “unacceptable.”
“It is a serious form of vandalism that stems from homophobia,” she said, according to the NL Times. “The Homomonument is a symbol of acceptance and freedom. It is a place where oppressed and persecuted queer people are commemorated. We will never accept hate speech and discrimination.”
The vandalism of the Homomonument follows a string of homophobic attacks on property across the Netherlands in recent months. In May, vandals set fire to a rainbow flag outside an LGBTQ association’s headquarters in Delft. In April, a group of about 20 adults attacked a building where a group of gay teens were meeting, beating up a volunteer working with the teens and attempting to set fire to a rainbow flag hanging from the building’s exterior while shouting anti-gay slurs. That same weekend, which was Easter weekend, five staff members of a drag bar in Groningen were attacked by a group of men while closing the bar.
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