Gay Campsite Vandalized

by Todd A. Heywood · 2010-04-01 07:43:00 UTC
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News hit this week that a well known gay campground in Fennville, Mich. was hit with anti-gay graffiti last weekend.

Campit co-owner Sally Howard tells WOOD TV 8 in Grand Rapids that the picket fence surrounding the property was spray painted with the message "Fags don't belong" and a swastika. Howard has co-owned the campground for a decade.

She says the community has been very accepting and supporting of the business. She also told the television station she had no issue with someone not being gay supportive, but "It's not OK with me they choose to express it like this."

Allegan County Sheriff officials are investigating, but Michigan does not have a hate crime law which covers sexual orientation or gender identity and or expression. The state House Judiciary Committee voted a bill to amend the state law out of committee some months ago, but it has not seen action by the full House.

Lt. Frank Baker says the sheriff's department is taking the vandalism "very seriously" but that it did not rise to the level of a hate crime because there was not violence.

Excuse me, but last time I checked destroying someone's property was an act of violence, and I certainly think the message, including the swastika, was meant as an implied threat of violence. Why else use such a violence-laden symbol?

Photo credit: Smart Community Fife

Todd A. Heywood is an investigative reporter based in Lansing, Michigan. He works for the American Independent News Network. He is HIV-positive and openly gay.
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