“I just want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else or, if it already has, that they feel empowered enough to speak up about it."
Mey RudeBrian Kleinmeyer and his boyfriend Daniel Kain were shocked Wednesday morning when they awoke and saw that the Christmas decorations outside their Eureka, Calif., home had been destroyed.
The couple found the gingerbread men they had up in their yard and holding hands had been torn down and placed beneath their gay pride flag. When they looked closer, they realized the gingerbread men had been smeared with feces. Kleinmeyer wrote about the incident on Facebook.
“They literally ripped them out of the ground, and wiped their asses with them, and carefully laid them at the base of our Pride Flag... I thought things might get stolen, but never in a million years did I think this would happen. I'm completely in shock,” he said.
Kleinmeyer later added a note, saying “Update: We've received a call from Chief Watson, whom has informed us that he fully intends to charge whoever did this with a Hate Crime.”
Eureka Police Chief Steve Watson told the Lost Coast Outpost that the crime was an “absolutely horrendous and appalling thing,” and said “it’s very clear in my mind this was a deliberate act based on the suspect’s perception of [the victims’] sexual orientation.”
According to Kleinmeyer, this is the second time their decorations have been torn down. “The first time, they broke a Santa sleigh in half and tangled up a bunch of my Christmas lights,” he told the Outpost.
“I just want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else or, if it already has, that they feel empowered enough to speak up about it,” he added.
If the culprit is caught, they could face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.
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