Yard signs for Miami Shores, Florida
city council candidate Jesse Walters were found vandalized with
anti-gay slurs on Sunday, NBC Miami reported.
“Several of our campaign yard signs
were defaced overnight with anti-gay epithets,” Walters wrote in an
email to supporters.
Vandals plastered “FAGGOT” over
Walters' face in one instance and “SHIT LOVER” in a second.
“It's hard to explain how unsettling
something like this is until you experience it,” Walters added.
“Some folks are very scared by our campaign, but Miami Shores is
not a place for this type of hate. This will only energize us more.”
Walters is openly gay. He and his
partner of 23 years, David Traupman, are raising their 15-month-old
daughter.
A family photo featured on a mailer
distributed to homes on Saturday likely sparked the vandalism,
Walters said.
“I've had phone calls, e-mails, even
the other candidates made a point of either finding me today or
calling me, which was really heartwarming,” Walters
told NBC Miami.
Last year, Scott
Galvin found about half-a-dozen yard signs for his congressional bid
in northeast North Miami defaced with the word “fag.”
If he wins Tuesday's race, Walters
would become only the fourth openly gay elected official in
Miami-Dade county.