DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — The city of Delray Beach held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday for a new LGBTQ Pride crosswalk — a canvas showing the community coming together as one.
"You could see all the faces in the crowd, young, old, the love, the acceptance," Julie Seaver said.
But by Monday, someone had already defaced the art installation at the intersection of Northeast First Street and Northeast Second Avenue. Skid marks now cover the work.
Seaver is the executive director of Compass, an LGBTQ community center in Lake Worth Beach. Her organization helped set up the project. She said she's not surprised.
"There's a lot of hate in the world and a lot of homophobias, a lot of transphobias," she said. "Our community lives with that every day."
The Delray Beach Police Department is investigating.
"In regard to this area, this intersection where this tire burnout happened, a report has been taken and a detective is following up on this case," police spokesman Ted White said. "We take this very seriously."
Eleven colors make up the new LGBTQ Pride crosswalk in Delray Beach. Seaver said the community has a sense of pride for the colorful work of art. She said it means that much more since it was finished during pride month.
"What the vandalists don't realize is how powerful and resilient the LGBTQ community is," she said. "We have to deal with this type of hate every single day, but we do know how to rally and organize, and we know how to stand together side by side even in the face of hate."
This story was originally published by Todd Wilson on Scripps station WPTV in West Palm Beach, Florida.
