Burlington Pride sign vandalized with homophobic slur

A Burlington woman says she is disappointed after someone defaced the Pride sign on her front lawn with a homophobic slur.

Barbara Smith, who resides on Burloak Drive, said she put the sign on her lawn June 1 in celebration of Pride Month.

The sign reportedly went undisturbed until the night of Wednesday, June 15 when someone vandalized both sides of it.

Smith said a neighbour's Pride sign was also vandalized with homophobic graffiti the same night.

I'm just very disappointed that someone in Burlington would actually do that," said Smith.

It's Pride Month...Writing this is just so disrespectful. I mean, really? You have nothing better to do?"

Smith said she bought the sign a year ago to show support for the LGBTQ+ community after the Halton Catholic District School Board voted not to raise the Pride flag, a decision the board reversed in 2022.

The sign was displayed without any problems throughout June 2021.

The Burloak resident says she has contacted Halton police about the incident and noted she plans to get a new Pride sign.

I still want to support this group," said Smith.

It bothers me people are being discriminated against. It's really just not fair."

When reached for comment Halton police said they have been made aware of this vandalism and are investigating.

Const. Ryan Anderson said police are also looking into an incident in which an Oakville home had homophobic slurs spray painted on its front this month.

The residence had been displaying Pride flags.

These are investigated as hate motivated crimes," said Anderson.

These occurrences are monitored by a Region-wide coordinator who works in our Intelligence Bureau. This coordinator is a member of the Hate Crime Extremism Investigative Team, which is comprised of 15 police services across the province."

Halton police said the District Criminal Investigations Bureau and the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office provides follow up and support to victimized individuals and groups.

Our police service recognizes the importance of a strategic and collaborative approach when responding to these types of incidents," said Anderson.

Because of this, we have partnered with several community agencies to assist us in the enhancement of our current policies and procedures but they also act as an additional resource when supporting victims."