EQFL Member Victim of Homophobic/Anti-Semitic Vandals
Ruth Dorfman is a longtime member of Equality. She's been a champion for LGBT families in Naples and has worked for years on the coalition working to pass a non-discrimination ordinance in Collier County. This is a chilling reminder that the rise in hate speech across the country in recent weeks and months has very real and very dangerous consequences.
Stratton
SWASTIKAS PAINTED ON GARAGE DOOR OF WRITER OF ARTICLE ABOUT FAMILIES OF GAYS AND LESBIANS (PFLAG)
By Naples Daily News staff report
Originally published 11:46 a.m., Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Updated 5:12 p.m., Tuesday, June 16, 2009
When East Naples resident Ruth Dorfman went outside today to pick up her morning paper, what she saw shook her to the core.
“I saw these swastikas on my garage and I screamed... I remember that,” said Dorfman, 64, who is both Jewish and a vocal member of the Naples chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
In addition to the two swastikas painted on her garage, copies of an article she had written about the recent Interfaith Convocation Celebration hosted by PFLAG were pasted on the door.
Dorfman submitted a story that was published in the Daily News about the second annual PFLAG Interfaith Convocation recently held at Unity of Naples Church.
She remembered listening to herself scream when seeing the swastikas and wondering who was screaming.
“They’re probably what upset me the most,” said Dorfman of the symbols associated with Nazi’s and the suffering of millions of Jews during World War II. “That kind of vision of a Holocaust attack... that frightened me.”
Naples Mayor Bill Barnett, who welcomed the congregation at the most recent PFLAG gathering, was disappointed to hear today’s news.
“It’s very sad to me to have someone that narrow minded to do something like that. I’d be sorry no matter who it was.” Barnett said.
“It’s sad and disheartening to see things like that because this community as a whole has come a long long way over the years. Something like that is sickening and annoying, but I don’t think that it bespeaks of the whole community.”
Collier County deputies are investigating the incident.
For more information visit www.naplesnews.com.
CLICK HERE TO READ RUTH DORFMAN’S STORY ABOUT PFLAG
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jun/13/guest-commentary-pflag-inter…
