Brighton Aids memorial 'desecrated' during Pride

9:50am Tuesday 4th September 2012 in News By Bill Gardner

MOCKED: The Aids memorial after the vandals struck. The image has been altered to remove the banana. MOCKED: The Aids memorial after the vandals struck. The image has been altered to remove the banana.

A memorial to Aids victims was vandalised during the Pride weekend.

Residents in New Steine Gardens awoke yesterday to find the statue had been dressed in clothing and had a banana strapped to it.

The vandalism is believed to have taken place some time on Sunday night.

Paul Elgood , chairman of the Rainbow Foundation which manages the statue, said local residents were “horrified”.

He said: “This is a very special place of remembrance for people that lost friends and family to Aids.

“We were disgusted to see that someone had desecrated the memorial. This is hallowed ground and what these people did was disgraceful.”

Billy Lewis, from the city’s LGBT Community Safety Forum, said he hoped Police would find and arrest the vandals.

He said: “This is a very clear incident of hate crime and we want these people brought to justice.”

Comments(13)

Hove Actually says...
10:03am Tue 4 Sep 12

Billy Lewis is a typical mouthpiece

Try to score points ignoring everything on the way which may disprove them.

My first thought was high jinks by someone attending Pride, surely if it was a "HATE" crime they would have damaged it not dressed it in a shirt?

Lastly I doubt the locals were “horrified”as Paul has suggested, more bigging up by those with an agenda

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john5001 says...
10:11am Tue 4 Sep 12

vandalism ? you should get a grip . people put a scarf and hat on a phone box in shoreham and that was called art.

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Crystal Ball says...
10:28am Tue 4 Sep 12

"Hallowed ground"? Get over yourself buddy.

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brighton-breezy says...
10:37am Tue 4 Sep 12

This is not vandalism! I Live in Kemptown, I am not horrified by a statue in clothing. I also hope the police don't spend any time on this case trying to find the 'culprits' just because one or two screaming queens are making it sound like a 'hate crime' Get a grip! Im sure that your friends that sadly passed away from AIDS would have had a chuckle at it!

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voiceofthescoombe says...
10:38am Tue 4 Sep 12

Exactly
Drunk idiots more than
Iikely gay.
Hate crime would have been damage
Or paint.

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tooned_in says...
10:49am Tue 4 Sep 12

hate crime?? what against AIDS victims? of course it isnt its just persons unknown acting the fool, AIDS affects both hetrosexuals & homosexuals and we are all at risk so I really cant see this act as a hate crime more of an act of extreme stupidity!

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dhamallamafarmer says...
11:20am Tue 4 Sep 12

I was SHOCKED and HORRIFIED to find that no one had VANDALISED this work of ART. Hallowed? It's a revolting sculpture (in aesthetic, not message) which, as far as I remember, nobody liked when it was put up. There were plenty of other, better contenders tabled but They Who Know Best chose this ugly, trite, sophomoric eyesore instead. Covering it up with a hat and coat is the least that could have happened to it.

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censored says...
11:27am Tue 4 Sep 12

I think we need to be careful about having sacred objects.

Vandalism means damage. There is no damage here.

I feel the same about the Steine war memorial. It would be nice to see kids dipping their toes in it, rather than worshipping a holy place.

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chrisinbrighton says...
12:25pm Tue 4 Sep 12

The police will probably use DNA to find out who's cloths they are and have another easy conviction;time the police caught criminals not pranksters

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nocando says...
6:22pm Tue 4 Sep 12

I was shocked and horrified to find someone had scrawled pink lipstick all over the hallowed ground of my sacred motorbike which was parked on elm grove over saturday night. I'm convinced I've been the victim of a hate crime against a minority group (bikers) and am determined to use this as an example to stamp out all such bigotry, I couldn't bear this to happen to anybody else and honestly feel I should start a campaign to make sure it never ever does.
Or I could just wipe it off.

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thevoiceoftruth says...
8:22pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Suspects were dressed in underpants with whistles round their necks. One was heard to shriek 'Come on boyfriend, we've got to get to Revenge to meet Paulo and Rufus!'

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Vigilia says...
11:41pm Tue 4 Sep 12

“We were disgusted to see that someone had desecrated the memorial. This is hallowed ground and what these people did was disgraceful.”

It was not desecrated because it was not consecrated in the first place, as for “hallowed,” by whom?

Please get a grip on reality and understand that the vociferous voice of the homosexual community in Brighton and Hove represents no more than 15% of the population. Putting some clothes on it was nothing more than high spirits by some people caught up in the enjoyment of the weekend. The banana pales into insignificance compared to activities regularly witnessed on Duke’s Mound.

Why is it that in this City every action, comment or remark regarding homosexuality is regarded as homophobic or hate crime? I know of many homosexual people who are far from “gay,” in fact, they are thoroughly loud, objectionable and morose.

Why is it that homosexual women are proud to be called lesbian when men have to have the puerile euphemism of gay?

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F in L says...
12:23pm Wed 5 Sep 12

The bandana and clothes they used should point to the community who perpertrated this 'hate' crime was

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