By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NORTHSIDE - Anti-gay messages spray-painted on buildings along Hamilton Avenue in Northside have startled and angered residents.

Tim Jeckering, president of the Northside Community Council, said this kind of graffiti historically has not been a problem in Northside, but has increased in the past six months.

Messages such a "Boycott Gay Shops" and "Vote for Article 12" were scrawled across businesses, retaining walls and wooden fences near Hamilton Avenue. Jeckering said the statements and slurs are most likely the handiwork of one or two people because the handwriting in all of the messages is identical.

"We want to nip this in the bud. It's just offensive to many people in the community," Jeckering said this week. "It's just not in the spirit of what we're about here in Northside."

Stefanie Sunderland, a Northside activist, said the neighborhood of about 9,300 residents has been gay- and lesbian-friendly for decades. It is one of the sites of the city's annual Gay Pride Day Parade. Gays and lesbians have been involved in the neighborhood's redevelopment, opening businesses and restoring historic homes.

Sunderland urged council members at a meeting of the Law and Public Safety Committee to quickly remove the graffiti. "It sends a message to the general public that Northside is a place you can come and express your bigotry," Sunderland said.

The city's graffiti removal unit began cleaning off the spray-painted messages Wednesday, Sunderland said. Almost all of the graffiti has been abated, she said.

Sunderland said she wants Cincinnati police to consider charging those responsible with a hate crime when they are apprehended.

Jane Prendergast contributed. E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com