The LGBTQ community in Long Beach is on alert after three businesses with visible LGBTQ symbols had their windows smashed in.
The three locations – Wide Eyes Open Palms; Folklore Salon & Barber; and the Long Beach LGBTQ Center – all flew the Pride flag or have the Pride colors painted on the building.
Surveillance video captured a man smashing the door window at Wide Eyes Open Palms. Angie Evans, the coffee shop’s co-owner, said she thought it might be an isolated case until she heard that something similar happened at the LGBTQ center.
Andrea Arriola, a stylist at Folklore Salon & Barber, felt the same.
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“It was definitely jarring once we put all the pieces together and realized it was more of a message than just a break-in,” she said. Arriola pointed out that all three locations have Pride flags visible from the street.
Long Beach police are looking into the cases to see if there is a connection.
Just two years ago, someone burned down the Pride-painted lifeguard tower just a few miles away from the businesses and no one was ever caught.
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Evans said she hopes businesses that support the LGBTQ community aren’t being targeted, and she vowed to keep flying the Pride flag.
“I always knew that waving a flag would [make] us a potential target for those who are not for the LGBTQ community, but I’ll never take it down," she said.
