Homophobic graffiti smeared on Cornwall rainbow bench in human waste

Organisers of Cornwall Pride were left outraged after a park bench that was painted in rainbow colours to mark the county’s Pride festival was vandalised.

A photo sent to LGBT+ news website PinkNews by Cornwall Pride Twitter shows what looks like human faeces spread across the bench, which appeared to spell out “F***ing Queers”.

The three benches were painted in rainbow colours to mark Pride, with volunteers spending about 26 hours scraping the original paint off and painting them over with the Pride stripes. They have been described as the south west’s first permanent Pride rainbow installation.

The vandalism took place after the benches were given their first coat of paint.

Matthew Kenworthy Gomes, chairperson of Cornwall Pride, told PinkNews:

After all that hard work it was heart breaking to work through today knowing what had happened.

This has been condemned by Cornwall Pride organisers the Newquay community leaders, council the Devon and Cornwall police as an obvious hate crime. It has been given to the police as and they will be investigating as they have CCTV of the area.

A vile act of a individual or individuals that do not represent the feelings and support Newquay has for the community.

Please do not allow this to deter that Newquay is incredibly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Cornwall Pride, our supporters and the whole LGBTQ+ in Newquay are in shock but are now standing stronger against the hate, which is why Pride exists.

Pride is a celebration of diversity but it is also a beacon and a protest against hate and discrimination of the entire LGBTQ+ community.

H/T: PinkNews

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