Community groups have since joined together to clean-up the mural dedicated to the Belfast journalist. A mural dedicated to Lyra McKee has been vanadlised in the US state of Florida. The journalist from Belfast died after being struck by a bullet fired during a riot in Derry in 2019, and a mural in tribute to her was unveiled in 2019. McKee had visited Orlando in 2017, a year after a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in the city, killing 49 people. The mural was defaced with a Nazi swastika, as well as anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans graffiti. A clean-up of the mural has since taken place, organised by volunteers at Orlando’s LGBTQ+ Centre. In a social media post, community activists in Zebra Youth said it would not allow the vandalism by a “hate group” to deter the group. They said: “We will not allow the recent vandalism to our building by a hate group to deter us. Zebra Youth stands strong in our dedication to empowering LGBTQ+ youth to become healthy, productive, and self-sufficient individuals. We will never allow hate to win!”
via belfastlive: Lyra McKee mural at LGBTQ+ centre in America defaced with Nazi symbol and graffiti
siehe auch: Nazi symbols, Bible verse and ‘gay is not ok’ graffiti smeared across LGBTQ+ centre. The Orlando Center was vandalised with anti-LGBTQ+ graffiti (The Orlando Center) Homophobic graffiti, Nazi symbols and an infamous anti-gay Bible verse have been smeared across an LGBTQ+ centre’s rainbow murals. On Saturday (26 August), the LGBT+ Center Orlando, in Florida, revealed that images, created by Zebra Youth, an organisation that supports homeless and at-risk LGBTQ+ young people, had been vandalised. The mural celebrates gay pride and trans joy in the form of large rainbow hearts made from the colours of the Pride and trans flags. The artwork also pays tribute to the 49 victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting and queer journalist Lyra McKee, who was killed during riots in Northern Ireland. Images shared by The Center on social media showed the homophobic graffiti, including the words “gay is not okay” and “stop the lies”. As well as this, a Celtic cross – a symbol often used by white supremacists – and “Leviticus 20 18”, the Bible verse which calls homosexuality an abomination, were also sprayed over the mural. In a statement, the group said: “The Center’s beautiful murals were vandalised with hateful homophobic and transphobic messages and [Nazi] symbols. “We appreciate all of the community support and are doing everything to ensure the safety of our youth and staff. We will not allow hate to win.”