An LGBTQ bar called VERS in New York City was attacked for the fourth time this week when a man threw a brick at the window on Saturday night while people were still inside.
VERS owner David DeParolesa opened the bar in July and made sure to install windows with shatterproof glass to protect patrons against any anti-LGBTQ attacks. As a result, no one was harmed.
“I thought about the glass when I first opened the space in July,” DeParolesa told the New York Post. “It doesn’t shatter but it does crack.”
DeParolesa said the attack “feels like yet another manifestation of hate against our community.”
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This was the fourth time this week that a brick has been thrown at the VERS window. It is unknown whether the attacks have all been committed by the same person.
In the latest incident, the attacker was clearly captured on video.
Last night, a man threw a brick through the window at VERS while patrons were inside. This is the third time this has happened THIS WEEK! If anyone recognizes him or has any information, please let me know. pic.twitter.com/N1c8nQxiTO
— ryan (@thisismeryan13) November 20, 2022
The latest brick was thrown the same night that five people were killed and 18 wounded in a tragic mass shooting at an LGBTQ bar, Club Q, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Anti-LGBTQ hate has been virulent lately, as the Republic party and the larger conservative movement has spent a good part of this past year attacking LGBTQ people and allies.
The constant attacks have led to multiple bomb threats against children’s hospitals where conservatives claimed gender-affirming surgery was being performed on minors, even though it wasn’t, as well as laws like Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law, where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration condemned anyone who opposed the bill as a pedophile.
In the wake of the mass shooting, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) criticized the GOP’s “anti-LGBTQ campaign” from this past year and directly connected it to anti-LGBTQ violence.
“After Trump elevated anti-immigrant & anti-Latino rhetoric, we had the deadliest anti-Latino shooting in modern history,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday. “After anti-Asian hate w/COVID, Atlanta. Tree of life. Emanuel AME. Buffalo.”
“And now after an anti-LGBT+ campaign, Colorado Springs. Connect the dots, GOP.”
After Trump elevated anti-immigrant & anti-Latino rhetoric, we had the deadliest anti-Latino shooting in modern history.
After anti-Asian hate w/COVID, Atlanta.
Tree of life. Emanuel AME. Buffalo.
And now after an anti-LGBT+ campaign, Colorado Springs.
Connect the dots, @GOP.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 20, 2022
**Editor’s Note: This article originally stated that 25 people were wounded in the Club Q shooting. The correct number is 18.
