ISSUES: Vandals Target Xtra in Vancouver!

The Canadian gay newspaper Xtra, which publishes in Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver, says more than a dozen of its newspaper boxes have been destroyed by homophobic vandals in Vancouver:

This is "far and above what we've experienced in the past," he says. "This we find quite alarming."

"The energy that's required, the persistence to rip out a part that is very deliberately anchored in, suggests that this person has some significant issues," Kirkby says. "Somebody walking the streets out there has a real hate-on for the gay and lesbian community."

"I understand that people are not targeting Xtra with this; they're targeting the gay community. We're just a stand-in for the community," he says.

Among the stand-alone street boxes, only Xtra was attacked, Kirkby notes. But in at least one multiple publication box on Hornby St the only other gay publication, LOV magazine, was also targeted, its clip ripped out in the same way. No other publication was touched.

To systematically rip out the clips on 14 gay publication boxes from Gastown to English Bay suggests an obsession, Kirkby says, concerned the fury may escalate.