The George, Ireland’s best known gay bar, was vandalised with vile homophobic messages last night.
Horrific messages, referring to the much-loved club as a “faggot bar”, were scraped onto the bar’s exterior with chalk in the early hours of the morning.
The vile act of hate comes as Ireland marks two years since the Marriage Equality Referendum was passed.
The messages were washed off by a team from Dublin City’s Business Improvement District, but not before Twitter user @ConanGShore shared a picture, originally posted by @shawlerstyle, of the hateful vandalism on Twitter.
The George being vandalised is such an upsetting thing pic.twitter.com/VL6taoLBqz
— Co (@ConanGShore) May 20, 2017
“The George being vandalised is such an upsetting thing,” he wrote alongside the picture, which has since gone viral.
Naturally, people were horrified by the image, with one Twitter user writing, “I’m actually shocked…… are we back in the 80’s? That’s a joke”, while another wrote, “This is absolutely disgusting!! Im so angry. There better be consequences for the scumbags that did this!!”
Meanwhile, Editor of the Gay Community News Brian Finnegan told Independent.ie that even after the Marriage Equality Referendum was passed – the incident shows that homophobia is still a very real issue in Ireland.
“It happened on the exact anniversary to the day of the marriage equality referendum in May 2015. Last night in The Tivoli Theatre over 2,000 people came together to celebrate Yestival, and at the same time down the road this was taking place.
Last traces of graffiti being washed off @TheGeorgeBar earlier today. pic.twitter.com/PaWPjeBqcN
— weareDublinTown (@weareDublinTown) May 20, 2017
“The George is Dublin’s most identifiable gay spot and this shows that there are still people who think it’s perfectly acceptable to be viciously homophobic and anti-gay.
“It clearly indicates that everything is not rosy for gay people. There are gay people who are bullied at school, who are afraid to come out and be openly gay. It’s unbelievable that it happened on the exact day of a milestone for gay people in Ireland. Shame on the people who did it.
“It’s good to see that people are very clearly disgusted and upset by the vandalism, but people need to reflect on how this still exists,” he added.
The George are now said to be dealing with the Gardai.
