It was 6.30am and the garage was dark as Mark Spracklin sleepily sank into his vehicle for the early morning drive to work. At a red light, an older gentleman tapped on his window to point out the hateful words that had been spray-painted in black over the hood and sides of Spracklin’s vehicle. Though he hadn’t noticed this vandalism at first, now he cannot forget.
“I don’t think this is something anyone should have to deal with,” says the 22-year-old University of Lethbridge student. “It’s really frustrating.”
Though he is sleeping better now, Spracklin is still disturbed that someone would sneak into his home and vandalize his property with the words fag, homo, and queer.
“On the one hand I would like to talk to them and see why they thought this was a good idea and, on the other hand, I just don’t want to have to talk to this kind of person. Ever.”
He says the police are at a loss for finding whoever did this, but on the bright side, the attack drummed up a great deal of support from friends, family and community.
“My story has become so known in Lethbridge,” he says. “People have come out with similar stories on my Facebook page; fights [people like that] had picked with them at bars and discrimination by coworkers.”
Spracklin, who came out to his family two years ago, says messages of support have been received from people across Alberta and Saskatchewan. His story inspired over 100 people to gather at Lethbridge’s city hall plaza for the city’s first anti-hate rally on Thursday, June 24th, where Spracklin spoke. Both Lethbridge Police Chief Tom McKenzie and Mayor Bob Tarleck were in attendance.
“Are we ready to tear down the barriers of fear and hate?” Tarleck asked.
“In this province, we won’t tolerate this kind of discrimination anymore,” Lethbridge MLA Greg Weadkick added, later in the evening.
“It makes it a lot easier to know that these people are out there, that there’s a community to fall back on,” says Spracklin. “But not everybody hears this kind of story, which is why I felt I had to say something.”
It is doubtful that this attack was random. Statistics Canada has shown increased attacks aimed at the gay community and minorities over the last five years, but police offer the supposition that this spike is only visible because people are less afraid to report these incidents now.
Despite it all, Spracklin has maintained a cheery attitude, though thinks he will move from Lethbridge after he finishes his final year of dramatic arts and education studies.
“Possibly back to Calgary, or somewhere more interesting, and less windy,” he muses. 