SAN JOSE (KRON) — A San Jose LGBTQ center was vandalized early Monday morning, and rather than being a random incident, it is believed the center may have been targeted .
The windows and door were shattered. It happened at the LGBTQ Youth Space near Downtown San Jose. The door and windows are now boarded up.
The center says it’s less about who did it and more about the community looking out for one another.
“The only thing we have to go off of is that we were the only storefront on the block that got bashed in,” said Adrienne Keel, with the LGBTQ youth space.
Keel says she found the center like this early Monday morning. She says she called police soon after on the chance this was targeted.
“They said ‘you know, you may want to think about investing in cameras especially when you’re serving a community like yours where people do have some feelings about the work were doing,’” she said.
The center’s work that helps many young LGBTQ people in San Jose.
“We’re a drop in center. We also offer counseling services and do a lot of outreach and education in the community, so we’ve got this hangout space,” she said. “And then folks can talk one on one with a physician if they’re needing support with mental health.”
While they’re unsure if someone targeted the youth space, keel says it hasn’t stopped them from doing their work and won’t stop them in the future.
“You don’t like our community, you don’t have to come here,” Keel said.
She says no matter what is done to the building — they’ll still be there and continue to exist.
Despite the damages, she says the center gained much more.
“We really feel valued and we’ve had folks from businesses and political entities and just people who walk by who walk through our neighborhood check in make sure were okay,” Keel said.
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