An attempt to designate a section of a Calgary skate park as a legal spraypainting zone backfired last month, in what one alderman has called “a barrage of visual diarrhea.”

I love street art, but from the sounds of this CBC article, the work of these budding young artists wasn’t exactly gallery-worthy:

[Alderman John Mar] said it appears “mayhem ensued,” and people descended on the park with spray paint, covering every surface with tags, profanity and homophobic and anti-police statements, including urinals in the men’s washroom.

“We can’t have anti-homosexual slogans. We can’t have profanity. What we have done now is taken the park back for the citizens of Calgary and the youth that want to use it in a clean and friendly matter.”

Yikes! Not exactly a raging success, was it? At least the city has the good sense to correct it. After a quick order, city workers are reportedly busy scrubbing all the homophobic slogans off the Landmark building, keeping that sort of sentiment squarely in the mouths of politicians, media commentators, and church officials—you know, where it has always been.

• Costly cleanup for graffiti experiment gone wrong [CBC News]

I guess someone in Amherst, Nova Scotia isn’t too fond of rainbows.

A Pride flag that was being flown in front of Amherst’s city hall to celebrate the Cumberland Gay Pride week was removed and slashed by vandals on Thursday. The Mayor, Robert Angel, said he’s disappointed about the vandalism, and quickly had the flag replaced.

Cumberland Pride’s chair, Gerard Velhoven, expressed his disappointment to the press:

Amherst is a very positive town. We had such a great event here Monday that made everyone feel so good, then a couple of days later you get a call from the town that your flag has been vandalised.

It makes me feel awful, but having said that I’m hoping this is an isolated incident.

The saddest part of all this is that the vandalism totally worked: After hearing about the vandalism, all of Amherst’s gay population reportedly turned straight.

• Gay pride flag slashed [Chronicle Herald]

After reading about an anonymous vandal who wrote anti-gay slurs all over a gay MP’s election posters, I got to thinking a little bit about election sign vandalism in general.

I’m not a fan of election signs, to understate the matter a tad. Election season is visual mayhem at its most mayhem-y. It’s like if Satan, Attila the Hun, and Cruella de Vil all got together to form an advertising enterprise, enslaved humanity in the corrugated plastic mines, and used all their resources in a conspiracy to eliminate depth-of-field. Trees? Think of them as nature’s signposts! Lampposts are just long necks for headshots. Heck, why not use election sign pillars as a post for even more election signs?

That said, I can’t say I understand the purpose of vandalizing election property.

For one, vandalism actually makes the signs uglier. Second, as far as communicating one’s political leanings goes, it’s not worth the effort. I mean, say you really, really disagree with an election candidate. Will painting an eyepatch on him sway voters? Would anyone walking along the road suddenly believe the candidate has switched gears partway though the election to reveal himself as a fearsome, swashbuckling pirate? (Whatever swashbuckling means, anyway.)

There’s also a chance that sign-seers would feel compassion for the vandalees. While all parties are surely victims when it comes to poster-haters, those that draw the most shocking or widespread vandalism could garner at least some sympathy, maybe even in the form of votes. That’s why vandalism as a means of political expression is fundamentally counterproductive.

Personally, I think seeing the word “fag” scrawled over Scott Brison’s signs should be cause enough to remind people that homophobia is very much alive and well, and has definitely reminded me why we absolutely need gay representatives and supporters who will help put a stop to it.

So, for those of you who absolutely feel compelled to damage, cut, or otherwise modify election property, may I suggest that you just indiscriminately remove the freakin’ eyesores altogether and write a letter to the editor instead. The horizon will thank you.

• Vandals hit Nova Scotia ridings [Globe and Mail]

It looks like some rural Albertan vandals have met the Rasputin of gay signage.

Dan Francis’ hand-painted “Rainbow Acres” sign was shot multiple times from a distance, shot some more from point-blank range, dragged across the road, and beaten with a hockey stick over two non-consecutive nights.

The unfortunately fated sign was a driveway marker for Dan and his fiancé’s home just outside of Milo, Alberta.

While Mr. Francis expressed disappointment over the unusual and continuing vandalism of his property, he also defended the area as being tolerant—most of the time:

I’ve lived in the area for pretty much my entire life. [...] I realized that not everybody approves of me, but I haven’t felt unwelcome in any respect.

[The vandals are] expressing their anger in a very poor way. Personally, I’ve been praying for the person who did this. I’m hoping this person or persons hear from friends and family that this sort of behaviour isn’t acceptable.

Politely put, given the circumstances.

Let’s hope the vandals appreciate Dan’s class and show some remorse over the vandalism. Otherwise, if films have taught me anything, they might be dealing with some vengeful, zombie signage in the near future.

• Gay pride sign damaged [Vulcan Advocate]

A St. John’s family was shocked and disturbed Thursday morning to find their home and vehicle defaced with homophobic graffiti. The words “fag,” “queer,” and various other profanities were spray-painted across the family’s property in large, black letters. The kicker: no one in the home identifies as gay.

Patricia Courage, the family’s mother, was horrified by the cruelty:

It’s very, very disheartening to think that Newfoundlanders would do such a horrible, horrible act of crime. [The vandals] are very low people to [do] such horrible things.

This is hardly the first time Eastern Canadians have been subjected to homophobia by mistake. Earlier last month, a Nova Scotia woman with the same name as gay rights rally organizer was shocked by a sudden wave of abusive, homophobic telephone calls.

So there you go: Being gay clearly isn’t a prerequisite to being a victim of homophobia.

• Hateful graffiti disturbs St. John’s family [CBC News]

An Ottawa vandal has been searching out and defacing posters promoting the city’s annual Dyke March. The posters, which encouraged people to support the march and attend the family BBQ and concert afterwards, had crosses scratched over faces in black marker, accompanied by the words “sin” and “repent.”

Attendance of the march was decimated due to the vandal’s actions.
…
Nah, I’m totally kidding! The vandal wasted a Sharpie.

• More posters vandalized in leadup to big weekend [Capital Xtra]