One homophobic vandal in the city has gone to a lot of trouble to get an anti-gay message to Xtra.

On at least one of our hot-pink Xtra and fab combo boxes, stickers have been added telling people to "Repent" and "Remember Sodom and Gomorrah."

Craig Palmer, distribution and community relations coordinator for Pink Triangle Press, which publishes Xtra and fab, says there was no other damage to the box at Bay and Dundas streets. "The sticker blends in so well most people would miss it. This person went to a lot of trouble to make sure it fits with our logo. The font, shape and colour match perfectly. This sticker was not cheap."


The black and white sticker appears to have been made specifically to blend with Xtra's logo, he says.

"Now that I know what to look for, I will be on the lookout," he says. "No one ever has just one sticker made. So I am expecting to see these all over the city."

There are about 200 Xtra boxes distributed throughout Toronto, 100 of which are pink combo boxes. Each box costs about $250 to replace.

Elsewhere in the city, loyal Xtra readers have been keeping an eye out for other vandalized boxes. @Vitty10 tweeted to alert us that the box at Runnymede Station was glued shut. The box at Spadina and Queen was also glued shut, Palmer says.


Other boxes, like the one at Carlton and Parliament streets, are frequently emptied of all the Xtra papers, filled with garbage and spray painted.

The deliberate destruction of gay press newspaper boxes is not new. People have been scrawling hateful messages and homophobic slurs on Xtra and fab boxes for years. (More examples here and here.)

Palmer hopes Xtra and fab readers will keep their eyes open to help catch the vandals in the act.

If you have information or spot other vandalized Xtra boxes, contact Palmer at craig.palmer@xtra.ca or 416-644-5204. If you see the vandals, snap a photo or video with your cellphone camera. You can also tweet @dreahouston or @Xtra_Canada.