Six lines of car-tire rubber streak the surface of a crosswalk in front of St. Albert Place, but beneath them the rainbow stripes still shine through.
St. Albert's first-ever rainbow crosswalk was painted just over a month ago by a group of volunteers as a symbol of support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) community.
Although the paint is now accompanied by three sets of marks where a driver did burnouts, the volunteers who organized the crosswalk's creation aren't letting that get them down.
Terry Soetaert, co-organizer of this year's St. Albert Pride barbecue in June as well as the city's Outloud, Outloud Jr. and PFLAG groups, says he wants to start a conversation with the person who left the marks so they can better understand one another.
"It's unfortunate, but it doesn't mean anything to us," he said of the marks.
"With those people, I'd be happy if they came to a PFLAG meeting to come and discuss it with other adults. If they don't want to come forward, then that's fine, too – we just don't really recognize it as a big deal."
St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron, who went out last month in her free time to help the volunteers paint the crosswalk, said she noticed the first marks appear a couple of weeks ago.
"I'm very disappointed," she said in a text message. "I thought St. Albert was better than this."
Kris Wells, an associate professor with the University of Alberta, says he was also disappointed but not demoralized to see the marks appear.
"I think the best response is simply to continue to show support," he said, adding he hopes the marks don't deter LGBTQ people and their allies from feeling welcome in St. Albert.
"I hope that the city will simply repaint or repair the crosswalk and continue moving proudly forward in its diversity and inclusion work. I think that's really the best response, is just to show these vandals that the city is committed to building an inclusive community."
Soetaert said one of the PFLAG groups has talked about repainting half of the burnouts and leaving the rest, asking the people who left the marks to meet them halfway.
As for that conversation, which he wants to start, he said it's possible the people who left the marks are just like he was, once upon a time, before his daughter came out.
"I was always taught (being LGBTQ) was a choice, a lifestyle choice, and when my daughter came out it was like, 'Yeah – she didn't choose anything.' She didn't want to have things made more difficult," he said.
"People like me who were raised without any education and didn't know any LGBTQ people – maybe it's something like that."
