A Florida mural of a murdered Northern Irish journalist was defaced with a swastika and anti-LGBTQ+ graffiti over the weekend. Lyra McKee was shot dead at the age of 29 by a republican gunman during a riot in Northern Ireland in 2019. Orlando’s Zebra youth center—which provides services to LGBTQ+ people—commissioned the mural the same year. McKee, a gay activist and writer, had visited Orlando in 2017 in the wake of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in the city which left 49 people dead. Florida state Rep. Anna Vishkaee Eskamani posted an image of the defaced mural on Twitter showing the image scrawled with the Nazi symbol and the phrase: “Protect lives save kids’ eyes from trans lies.” Eskamani called the graffiti “absolutely disgusting.” “Will do what we can to identify who did this and hold them accountable,” she added.
