Homophobic graffiti prompts community response in Missoula
MISSOULA – Blair Libby spotted homophobic graffiti along the Milwaukee Trail in Missoula and reported it to city officials in January.
As of this week, some of the vandalism was still present, Libby said.
He wasn’t certain whether the current graffiti had been added since he brought the original offense to the city’s attention, but he said he’s seen new pieces of similar vandalism crop up in various places along the trail every few months for the past three years.
The recurring vandalism prompted a conversation Tuesday at the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center about the process for reporting anti-LGBTQIA+ graffiti in the city.
“There’s been this ongoing hate speech graffiti – homophobic, transphobic – that’s been just constantly being put up on the Milwaukee Trail,” said Andy Nelson, executive director of the Western Montana LGBTQ+ Community Center. “… Obviously we don’t want to see this type of behavior in our town.”
Nelson and Peace Center Executive Director Jacqueline Flewellen led a forum Tuesday evening on the “state of the LGBTQIA+ community” in Missoula and western Montana more broadly. Elected officials, city staff, allies and members of the LGBTQIA+ community turned out to discuss ways to make the region more welcoming to people of all genders and sexual orientations.
They reviewed the current process for reporting hate speech and came up with potential solutions to the issue for the future.
City officials told forum attendees to report discriminatory graffiti to the Missoula Police Department.
MPD coordinates with Missoula Parks and Recreation if the incident is located on park property like the Milwaukee Trail, or the police reach out to private property owners.
When possible, officials added, it helps to provide the police with photos of the specific pieces of vandalism.
“Hate messages like that are simply not tolerated, and the city does whatever it can to remove it or cover it,” said Mirtha Becerra, Missoula City Council member for Ward 2.
However, Becerra explained there are a few factors that influence the city’s ability to respond to graffiti.
“One of them is the weather, if they can get out there and they can take care of it right away,” she said. “The other one is the surface, what kind of materials they need to use. Sometimes it requires scrubbing it, sometimes it requires special equipment to get to that place and remove the message, the graffiti.
“The idea is to remove it as quickly as possible,” she added, but said there is no set timeline for removal because each incident is unique.
Participants at the forum proposed ideas to streamline the reporting and removal process.
One suggestion raised the possibility of forming a volunteer vandalism removal team, although Becerra said there might be legal questions triggered by volunteers performing city duties.
The group also identified developing digital resources and in-person signage as a top priority going forward.
Various participants in the forum said they wanted clear instructions online and on the trail giving guidance about reporting vandalism. Some proposed the signage should also announce a penalty for individuals caught defacing city property with hate speech.
Attendees Tuesday agreed there needs to be further conversation to determine the exact language used in these resources.
Forum attendees also floated the idea of creating a flyer with similar messaging for distribution during Missoula Pride.
The approach of the June event gave a sense of urgency to the conversation, although a specific timeline for developing solutions to the graffiti issue remains to be determined.
“This is something that is urgent and needs to get done,” said Flewellen.