Beloved Glasgow queer club desecrated with homophobic graffiti by hateful vandals
The doors of Polo Lounge in Glasgow yesterday (Twitter/@rayowendillon)
Police are investigating after one of Glasgow’s most popular gay bars was targeted with vile homophobic graffiti yesterday.
Vandals spray-painted the doors of Polo Lounge on Wilson Street with the words “poofs out” and “Josef Fritzl”, along with a crude image of a penis. They also included the initials and symbol of the Inter City Firm, a football hooligan group.
A police spokesperson said: “We can confirm that vandalism to premises on Wilson Street in Glasgow was reported to police shortly after 6.20pm on Tuesday.
“Enquiries are ongoing and at an early stage. Anyone with information can contact Police Scotland on 101, quoting incident 2935 of 11 February, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
Polo Lounge made headlines recently after staff kicked out a bisexual woman who refused to hide the LGB Alliance slogan on her t-shirt.
The LGB Alliance is an anti-trans groups whose mission statement explicitly seeks to remove the ‘T’ from ‘LGBT+’.
The city centre club has been open for 15 years and is one of the largest of its kind in Scotland. The hateful graffiti has shocked the city’s LGBT+ community after an employee shared a picture on Twitter.
Stood here for 15 years. I’m heart broken. I told folk things were getting worse. pic.twitter.com/yfM1A5TqfT
— Ray Ray (@rayowendillon) February 11, 2020
He wrote: “Stood here for 15 years. I’m heartbroken. I told folk things were getting worse.”
A recent report showed that homophobia is on the rise in the UK’s younger generation, as one in four 18-24 year olds believing that being LGBT+ is “immoral or against their beliefs”.
The homophobic vandals were widely condemned on social media, with local MP Angela Crawley tweeting: Homophobic, bigoted and hateful graffiti targeted at Glasgow institution @PoloGlasgow today.
“It’s times like this that we must recognise the need for pride. We must stand together as a #LGBT+ community & with our allies against all forms of discrimination.”
Facebook page Glasgow Gospel added: “It’s on all of us to stand beside every one of our brothers and sisters from LGBTQ+ community and every immigrant, every black or brown person, ever Muslim, every Jew, every gay person, every trans person … from every walk of life at the risk of abuse and discrimination to defend them and each other against these cretins who are getting more and more gallus [daring] and bold by the day.”
