SPOKANE, Wash. – Popup pride events took place throughout the day Wednesday after several days of LGBTQ+ murals and organizations being targeted by vandals.
The event was sponsored by The Odyssey Youth Movement (OYM) and The South Perry Business & Neighborhood Association (SPBNA).
OYM was vandalized for three consecutive nights in a row. Their signs and the pride mural in front of their building on S. Perry Street were damaged.
Community members came together Wednesday to help repair the mural.
The purpose of Thursday’s “Popup Pride” event was to celebrate inclusion in Spokane.
“Acts of vandalism like what happened on the crosswalk, Odyssey’s building and downtown really make us feel ‘othered.’ They tear us down, they make us feel like we’re alone and [that] we’re not welcome here. Which is exactly why we need to gather. We need to show that there are so many humans that want the LGBTQ community here…and that we are here throughout this community,” Ian Sullivan, the executive director for OYM, said.
The City of Spokane also hosted their “Crosswalk to Crosswalk Walk Against Hate” event earlier Thursday afternoon.
A group of people gathered in the South Perry District and then walked down to Riverfront Park where the pride mural next to the park was damaged one week earlier.
