Vandals Target GLBT Monument, Church, Media Buildings

Marks also left outside The Dallas Morning News and Dallas Observer buildings

Vandals tagged at least four places with red paint over the weekend, painting "666," the biblical sign of the devil, on monuments and buildings.

Drivers passing the Legacy of Love monument at the corner of Oak Lawn Aveune and Cedar Springs Road couldn’t miss the three large sixes painted in bold red along the monument’s side.

“My heart just sank, just sank — couldn't believe it,” said Brenda Marks, president of The Oak Lawn Committee

In the past, gay community leaders have gathered at the monument to celebrate court victories.

“This is our neighborhood plaza,” Marks said. “Things that happen that make our community joyful are celebrated here and things that are sad that we commemorate are commemorated here.”

“It's personal to us — we treasure this, it's our personal space,” Marks said.

Volunteers spent the day trying to remove the markings without luck. 

“It felt good to try to scrub that away,” said Todd Whitley. “Our actions were important — we were scrubbing but what we were doing we were coming together to show that love is stronger." 

The Cathedral of Hope, the world’s largest lesbian and gay church, and the offices of The Dallas Morning News and Dallas Observer were tagged as well.

Cathedral of Hope Senior Pastor Jim Mitulski is disappointed, but said it’s a teaching moment.

“This is what our Christian faith teaches us — it's not hypothetical that when people hate us we respond not with violence as this is, this is passive violence but it's violence never the less, we respond with love, with compassion,” said Mitulski.

“I'm disappointed to see that there are people in the world who use hate to express themselves,” said Whitley. “There are so many other ways to try to work through things even if we don't like each other, don't understand each other, we don't have to do stuff like this.” 

“Get a life, grow up, or as Rodney King would say, 'Can’t we just all get along?'”

The discoveries came on the same Sunday when many gay pride activities are happening nationwide. New York City, Chicago and San Francisco held pride-fests on Sunday.  Dallas' largest pride-fest celebration, the Alan Ross' Texas Freedom Parade will take place Sept. 21.
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