Vandals strike Halifax-area businesses with anti-trans messaging – Halifax [Video]

Two Halifax-area businesses are grappling with vandalism after discriminatory messages targeting the trans community were written on their buildings.

The troubling incidents have raised concerns about a possible rise in hate crimes and whether it’s linked to politics south of the border.

Just over a week ago, someone wrote graffiti on Venus Envy’s storefront with a harmful anti-trans statement.

In a social media post, the store says the “reality is that the landscape for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community is shifting in many ways, including negative ones which infringe on trans and gender non-conforming people’s right to exist.”

Another business, Glitter Bean Cafe, was also vandalized last week with a crude, anti-trans scrawling made on the side of the building.

In that case, the cafe said it will “persist and continue to be a space that offers safety and comfort for marginalized folks” and that the rise in “aggressive, bigoted behaviour” was …