Doughnut Shop Attacked With Molotov Cocktail After Drag Queen Event
A doughnut shop in Tulsa, Okla., that had hosted an art installation featuring drag queens was attacked with a Molotov cocktail this week.
The shop, the Donut Hole, had also been burglarized two days after the drag event, which was part of its grand opening October 15, the Tulsa World reports. The event had drag queens serving sculptures of doughnuts as well as real ones.
Then Monday, the Donut Hole posted security video showing a “hooded and masked figure” breaking a window with a baseball bat and throwing a bottle with a flaming substance into the shop, according to the World. “We don’t have any words at this point,” the store’s owners wrote on Facebook.
The assailant had left a note with anti-LGBTQ+ statements at a nearby business as well, Tulsa TV station KOTV reports. The city’s fire department has identified a “person of interest” in the attack and is looking for that individual.
The fiery substance did only minor damage, while a cash register and other equipment were stolen in the burglary. A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $14,000 for the store, and owners are donating any funds left over after paying for repairs to Oklahomans for Equality’s Dennis R. Neill Equality Center.
“These malicious acts have resulted in thousands of dollars going towards the cause this entire event was meant to support,” the owners wrote on Facebook after the first incident. “Love wins.”
The Donut Hole had scheduled another drag event for Thursday but has now canceled it.
The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement condemning the attacks. “This week in Tulsa, we saw the latest in an ever-growing list of violent attacks against the LGBTQ+ community. Our hearts are with the business owners and local community,” said HRC Interim President Joni Madison. “In recent months, we have seen anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, discrimination, and harassment spike on social media, driven by a small group of extremist politicians and their allies. This attack, which comes on the heels of bomb threats to hospitals that provide care to transgender youth, and threats to drag shows and Pride parades, shows that there are real-life consequences to online harassment beyond the screen. These disgusting actions taken against a small business will do nothing to deter us in our fight for equality and liberation for all LGBTQ+ people.”
Above image: Donut Hole co-owner Sarah Swain outside the boarded-up shop. Courtesy of GoFund Me.
