OKOTOKS: The Pride crosswalk in Okotoks was found vandalized Wednesday morning.
A June 14 social media post to the Town of Okotoks’ Facebook page detailed vandalism to the crosswalk at Elizabeth Street and Elk Avenue, painted in rainbow colours for Pride Week, found earlier the same morning.
The post featured a photo showing absorbent material scattered down to soak up what appeared to be white paint.
“What we assume happened is at some point throughout the night, somebody came and threw white paint across the crosswalk,” said Town of Okotoks spokesperson Ben Morgan in a phone call.
“This is disheartening and not welcome.”
Police had then contacted Town staff who deployed an absorbent material in an effort to soak up the paint, he explained, which can be seen in the photo on Facebook.
The vandal(s) work appears to be in vain, however, as the white paint did appear to have been completely removed from the crosswalk later in the day.
Okotoks Pride chair Tom Barker said in a phone call he was disappointed, but the behaviour comes as no surprise.
“While we’re upset to see the crosswalk vandalized in this way, it’s a good reminder of the things queer people face every day,” Barker said.
“This is not an isolated incident; this happens to people on the sidewalks in this town every day.
“It’s upsetting that somebody felt they had to vandalized it rather than seek out education as to why there’s a pride crosswalk, but unfortunately that’s the reality for a lot of queer people everywhere.”
Okotoks RCMP is currently investigating the matter, and Morgan added that defacing symbols of inclusivity is not welcome in the town.
“At the end of the day, we pride ourselves on being a beautiful, safe, inclusive community, and there really is no place for this,” Morgan said.
“It’s beyond vandalism; this is a safe place, we value equity, diversity, inclusion, where everybody has a right to feel safe and be treated as an equal.”
