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A mural dedicated to Lyra McKee has been vandalised in the US state of Florida.
The journalist died after being struck by a bullet fired during a riot in Londonderry in 2019.
The mural in Orlando was defaced with a swastika and anti-LGBTQ graffiti.
Unveiled in 2019, the mural was a tribute to Ms McKee, who had visited Orlando in 2017, a year after a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in the city, killing 49 people.
After her death Orlando’s council passed a resolution offering sympathy of the people of the city to Ms McKee’s partner Sara Canning, family and friends.
Member of the Florida House of Representatives Anna Vishkaee Eskamani described the mural defacement as “absolutely disgusting”.
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Ms McKee spoke of her visit, with a delegation from the UK, in 2017 at the TEDxStormontWomen event.
She said she had been reticent about visiting a mosque during her time in Orlando.
“I hated myself for much of my life because of what religion taught me about people like me and when I stopped hating myself I started hating religion,” she said.
However, Ms McKee said she was surprised by her interaction with the mosque, which had led the response to the club shooting and had condemned it.
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A clean-up of the graffiti has since been carried out at the LGBTQ+ Center & Zebra Coalition buildings.
In a social media post, Zebra Youth said it would not allow the vandalism by a “hate group” to deter the group.
“Zebra Youth stands strong in our dedication to empowering LGBTQ+ youth to become healthy, productive, and self-sufficient individual,” the group added.
“We will never allow hate to win!”
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