Recent vandalism won't erase LGBTQ+ community in central Newfoundland: advocate
Lexi MacDonald with Pride Grand Falls-Windsor says the vandalism reflects a crisis of empathy, but that LGBTQ+ people in central Newfoundland 'are not going anywhere.'
RCMP say a rainbow crosswalk in front of a school in Botwood, N.L., about 35 kilometres northeast of Grand Falls-Windsor, was vandalized with spray paint earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Natalie Smith says someone shot out a window in her Grand Falls-Windsor gift shop last month for the second time in two years.
Smith says anti-LGBTQ+ hate is on the rise and she believes whoever did it may have been targeting the large rainbow Pride flag hanging in the window.
Smith says members of the local and provincial governments must speak out about what has happened.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 5, 2025.
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