Vandals put up 'straight pride' posters at Santa Rosa businesses

Vandals put up ‘straight pride’ posters at Santa Rosa businesses

A "straight pride" patch is seen on a supporter's shirt during a rally

Staff Writer

June 13, 2023 Updated 3:26 PM PT

Several businesses in Santa Rosa were vandalized this week with anti-LGBTQ+ posters linking to a rap song celebrating “straight pride,” authorities said.

The posters were discovered at several locations around the city, including Brew Coffee and Beer House, which is queer-owned, as well as Shady Oak Barrel House, according to their social media accounts. In some instances, the posters were placed over Pride flag emblems.

“Some Haters tried to cover all our windows with anti LGBTQ+ posters in Santa Rosa. This is a Hate Crime,” Brew Coffee and Beer House wrote on its Facebook page. “We are a queer-owned business and Proudly represent inclusivity and safety. We face hate like this all year long and it is why it’s important that Pride month happens and why we must stand together every day to protect each other.”

Vandals put up signs that directed people to a "straight pride" YouTube video

The businesses said the vandalism occurred Sunday night.

Alisse Cottle, owner of Brew Coffee and Beer House, said she was opening the cafe around 7 a.m. Monday when she and her team found about eight of the posters plastered on the windows.

They were “strategically” placed over a “Protect Trans Lives” sign and a “Black Lives Matter” sign, Cottle said.

She and her wife own the cafe and said the queer-owned and queer-friendly space has been the target of anti-LGBTQ+ ire in the past.

“We do get threats. We’ve had people get egged outside. We had people start a fight on the patio. We had someone threaten to come back and shoot us if we didn’t take down our posters outside,” Cottle said.

Their cafe has been operating in Santa Rosa for nine years.

Shady Oak Barrel House posted a video on Instagram of an employee taking down one of the posters.

When scanned, the QR code on the signs linked to a YouTube video from rapper GNotesJustice, whose lyrics celebrate “straight pride” and who repeatedly says, “I love being hetero.”

The posters also linked to a website for Redwood Holler, which said it’s working to make California “great again one helping hand at a time,” according to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

The website had an email address and YouTube channel connected with a Bay Area group of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, the Press Democrat reported.

“The businesses targeted were primarily in or near downtown, LGBTQ+ owned or supporters of the LGBTQ+ community,” the Santa Rosa Police Department said in a statement. “Unknown people defaced private businesses with stickers, promoted hateful rhetoric and used the stickers to cover up support for LGBTQ+ rights, trans rights and BLM.”

Police are investigating the incident and have asked residents to send tips if they know anything about the vandalism.