Harvard LGBT Books Vandalized With Urine

The Harvard Crimson:

Approximately 40 books dealing with LGBT issues were vandalized with what appeared to be urine in Lamont Library on November 24, according to a report filed Friday by the library security staff to the Harvard University Police Department.

HUPD spokesman Steven G. Catalano wrote in an e-mail that the vandalized books' subject matters included lesbian and gay issues and same-sex marriage. Due to the nature of books, HUPD is currently investigating the incident as a bias crime.

Read the whole story: The Harvard Crimson

Comments

[BenK1976]

09:36 PM on 12/13/2010

Well, I take it all back ...new info says it was a bottle of urine found by the staff ...from the Crimson ..."it was revealed Monday morning that "our own library personnel" had accidentally spilled a bottle, containing what was reported to be urine, that had been found on the shelf" ....so it was clumsy staff and a student who just had to go while studying, presumably unable to tear him/herself from the books ling enough to get to the bathroom!

weird!

teaches me to assume a report is correct, lesson noted!

I was wrong to make an assumption!

[Jdaddy1951]

04:21 PM on 12/13/2010

Hate crime.
 
Fingerprint. Arrest. Expell. Terminate. Jail.

[Bill J4321]

04:03 PM on 12/13/2010

Stay classy, heteros!

[shthar]

03:02 PM on 12/13/2010

40! Man, that's one big bladder!

[BenK1976]

02:15 PM on 12/13/2010

This is really creepy.

Bullying and H8 aren't dead. What kind of message does this send to LGBT folks. It is a H8 crime because it is meant to intimidate a group of people based on an immutable characteristic. I just wsh they haddn't tossed the bottle. They should find this creep!

[SiberianRat]

02:35 PM on 12/13/2010

Luckily, these sorts of completely moronic stunts tend to backfire. I bet loads of replacement book donations come in.

[shthar]

03:02 PM on 12/13/2010

Hopefully no bathroom readers.

[BenK1976]

07:16 PM on 12/13/2010

the books will be replaced, but the message is still sent. if you have to ask if your status as a human will be defended by your peers then it is under attack.

[Ioan Lightoller]

02:06 PM on 12/13/2010

This is purely and simply a hate crime. Of course the fundies will scream since they don't think there should be any hate crime laws on the books lest they be shown up for the haters they are when something like this happens.

The hatred I see spewed here and elsewhere reveals an anti-gay animus stronger and more public than I have seen in decades.

[joelb5000]

01:50 PM on 12/13/2010

A "bias crime"? It's called a hate crime, and the penalties are very severe.

[SiberianRat]

02:20 PM on 12/13/2010

It wasn't an attack on a person though--the penalties for defacing books is not that major. Obviously the person(s) who did it are moronic phobes, but the crime itself is pretty minor; that said, it should be red flag about the perpetrator(s).

[Bill J4321]

04:07 PM on 12/13/2010

You are incorrect. Completely incorrect. 100% incorrect. This wasn't an attack on gay Bill or lesbian Janet or bisexual Susan.

This was an attack on EVERY SINGLE LIVING BREATHING LGBT citizen in the world.

It was symbolic. Meant to be made public. And meant to make every LGBT citizen walking the planet feel badly.

To deny that is simply wrong.

[BenK1976]

07:18 PM on 12/13/2010

I think "bias crime" is a term of art for "hate crime" in the lexicon of law enforcement ...can anyone clarify this for me??