Gay Lincoln Square Couple's Home Vandalized With Hate Messages
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Lincoln Square family's sidewalk was vandalized with hateful white supremacist graffiti over the weekend.
Jeff Zacharias lives on the 2400 block of West Winnemac with his husband, Brad, and their college-aged daughter. He said they're not shy about their political views, and had posted a yard sign stating "Here we Believe Love is Love, No Human is Illegal, Black Lives Matter, Science is Real, Women's Rights are Human Rights, Water is Life, Kindness is Everything."
Sunday morning, Zacharias discovered someone had vandalized that sign, spraying over the words with black paint. His sidewalk also had been vandalized, with the words "Anti-White" spray-painted in black and white.
"There's a lot of old trauma that comes up for us," he said. "I've run the gamut today from being really angry, to being scared, and just put the signs back in our yard and up our efforts to resist even more."
A "Black Lives Matter" sign on their street also was destroyed. Zacharias said his family won't be intimidated by the vandalism.
"We're going to keep fighting for people who are disenfranchised and disempowered, and not allow bullies to win," he said. "The fact that the signs were destroyed just makes me know that they need to be there."
Zacharias said the incident was somewhat surprising; but given the current political environment, anything can happen.