THUNDER BAY — A north-side restaurant was targeted with a hateful message of vandalism this week.
Staff at Wild Thyme on Thursday discovered that a marquee display on the front of their Cumberland Street building advertising a drag show that had been held last month was defaced with homophobic graffiti.
Wild Thyme co-owner Joe Fleury said his initial reaction was fear.
“I’m not even sure the full impact of what happened didn’t really hit me until I saw it on my nephew, who was a lot more affected by it,” Fleury said in an interview on Friday. “I don’t know if I felt it so much for myself, but I felt it more for a loved one who is actually a part of that community and more for fearing for someone else’s safety and then the full weight of what was happening and was going on.
“It took me hours to process that this is something that needs to be addressed. I now feel like I have a responsibility to do something and you don’t really know what to do.”
Fleury said the Thunder Bay Police Service has been contacted, and he is waiting to hear back for more information
On Thursday, he turned to social media and posted about the incident on the Wild Thyme Facebook page.
“I just reached out and hoped some awareness would make a difference,” Fleury said. “The feeling of hopelessness is overwhelming and you can’t stop something like this from happening.”
Jason Veltri, the president of the Rainbow Collective of Thunder Bay, said it was disheartening to see the hate continuing to be present in the community, particularly against a local small business that has been a safe space.
“It clearly shows we have more work to do,” Veltri said.
Veltri said the incident shows the need for more visible support of the LGBTQ community.
“We need more allies. We need more businesses, we need more people that are not part of the 2SLGTQ community to stand up with us and say enough is enough, and we will not accept hate, discrimination and violence of any form against equity deserving communities in this city,” Veltri said.
Veltri added that he hopes police take the incident seriously.
The original Wild Thyme Facebook post had disappeared on Friday morning, but Fleury replaced it with a new message.
The original social media post ended with a vow: “We will overcome this feeling of hopelessness with a message of our own: We won’t allow you to break us!!!!”
