A youth center on
Long Island was vandalized over the weekend, and
local police are investigating it as a possible hate crime.
Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth Center
employees arrived to work on Monday to find that the
Bayshore, N.Y., building's glass front door was smashed,
and the center's van's tires were slashed, its windows
shattered, and its rearview mirrors mangled.
"This is the
first time in 16 years that this has happened directly
to us," said executive director David Kilmnick. "We're not
living in a bubble."
The crime
occurred between the evening of January 31 and the morning
of February 2, but no one was at the center when the
attack took place. Nothing was stolen, including
valuable assets like a large television,
computers from the center's lab, and the vandalized van.
Kilmnick says
that community response since the vandalism took place has
been "overwhelming. It's brought several staff members to
tears. Within the first couple of hours, people have
donated close to $7,000 to help pay for the damages
and help us get a surveillance camera system. It's
something I never wanted to put in, but the realities are
that in this day and time we have to do it to protect
people."
Local company
Lindy's Taxi has also pledged to repair the damage to the
van and, in the meantime, shuttle youths who commute several
miles to the center on a weekly basis.
Public figures
including New York governor David Paterson and several of
his staff members have reached out to the center to
send their condolences. They are joined by state
legislators, many of whom have also sent personal
donations. Kilmnick says that the attack has even led to a
breakthrough with Suffolk County executive Steve Levy, who
"for the first time ever" issued a statement on the
county's gay and lesbian population.
Levy said that
attacks against "the gay community will not be
tolerated in Suffolk County. Our police department will seek
to apprehend any wrongdoer and help ensure that there
is swift justice to deter any such activity in the
future."
Kilmnick did say,
however, that the organization had to lobby police for
five hours on Monday in order for them to classify the case
as a hate crime.
"It would have
been different if they had wrote 'fag' on the
building, but we were successful in our advocacy effort," he
said.
The center was in
a state of disarray on Monday morning, though the
evening's weekly events -- like a leadership development
program, a safe-schools team, and the center's
advisory board meeting -- were scheduled as usual.
"We weren't able
to pick up the kids in the van, so we sat around and
we finally got to talk as a staff to debrief a little," said
Kilmnick. "I asked the staff, 'Should we cancel the youth
meeting tonight?' The decision was made real quick --
we decided no, because that means that these people
have won."
As children and
parents poured in on Monday night -- many with checks in
hand to give back to the organization that has helped their
children -- many of the parents expressed their
gratitude in other ways. One parent, who proudly
addressed her transgender son as her daughter, said that her
child has benefited from attending the center.
"My daughter was
always in a shell, would never talk, would never come
out, but now she's speaking all over the place," the mother
said to Kilmnick on Monday night. "She's now a leader
in the school, and if it wasn't for this place, I
don't even know if she would be here." (Michelle
Garcia, Advocate.com)
