The CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ Center is calling vandalism in the midst of Pride Weekend a "hate crime," saying he believes the building was targeted.
Hawkins said this is not the first time the center, which he co-founded in 2017, has been vandalized. In fact, it happened during Pride last year.
Hawkins believed it was again targeted this weekend.
Oakland Police are investigating. They have not yet made an arrest.
"As an organization that is founded and led by Black queer people, we clearly understand that so much more needs to be done in the East Bay to help LGBTQ+ residents, particularly Black/African American, African, Indigenous, Latino/Latinx, and Asian LGBTQ community members, to feel safe and supported and to know how to report hate crimes," an emotional Instagram post from the center said.
Hawkins said the center already has raised enough money through crowdsourcing to replace the windows.
A post shared by Oakland LGBTQ Community Center (@oaklandlgbtqcenter) on Jun 28, 2020 at 8:26am PDT



