HATE: Pride Float Tires Slashed Hours Before Parade

An apparent hate crime took place in the wee hours of the morning today after hours of preparation, dozens of Pride float tires were slashed with a knife in Chicago. The floats were lined up on Chicago’s South Side in preparation for the city’s annual Pride celebration. Some time between 8 p.m. when one of the organizers left and 5 a.m. today when he returned, vandals slashed tires on several floats.

The Windy City Times spoke with Chuck Huser, owner of longtime Pride float provider Associated Attractions -where the crime occurred.

The attackers broken in but did no other damage to the floats, and they took nothing else, leaving Huser to believe this had to be a hate crime. No notes were left.

Huser has filed a police report, but his main focus the morning of the Pride Parade was finding an open tire shop, where they were running back and forth to repair the tires.

“They didn’t want these folks to go out,” Huser said. He added that he has no disgruntled employees or customers, and that most of his workers have been with him more than 20 years.

The start of the Parade may have to be somewhat delayed while Huser and his team work frantically to repair the damaged tires.

Openly Gay UMass Student’s Car Vandalized

An openly gay UMass Dartmouth student found his car spray painted with a homophobic slur this weekend.

The college, which prides itself on its messages of diversity and even flies the rainbow pride flag year-round, is located in Massachusetts – the state which has celebrated marriage equality the longest. The unidentified student found his car vandalized this weekend after spending the afternoon on the college campus. Police are investigating and authorities say that this is the first time anything of this magnitude has been reported on the campus.