HEART OF GLASS

Windows of Milk District LGBTQ bar shot out in apparent hate crime

BY MATTHEW MOYER

It’s a Sunday night at the Milk District LGBTQ+ bar District Dive and even though it’s the waning hours of the weekend, the spot is jumping. Spirits are high, drinks are dutifully slung, and no one seems to pay much mind to the boards covering several of the large picture windows facing out into the street.

And yet, it’s been almost a week with no answers since the windows of District Dive — part of the sprawling Southern Nights complex at Bumby Avenue and South Street — were shot out in what the owners are understandably characterizing as a hate crime.

Security-camera footage posted to District Dive’s Facebook page last Wednesday afternoon shows the latenight shooting, which also targeted Southern Craft, in real time as it happened. The incident occurred after 3:30 a.m., so thankfully all the bars were closed and the employees were out, but eight windows were shattered.

The video, posted by District Dive staff, shows a man — face concealed by a hoodie — walking slowly up to the windows on the South Street side of the building at close range and peering through them several times, then glass shattering in the windows one at a time shortly thereafter.

“Early Wednesday morning between the hours of 3:30a and 4:00a the Southern Nights Complex (District Dive, Southern Craft and Southern Nights) was a target of a hate crime,” read the accompanying Facebook post.

“It’s really just daunting and scary and sad. Especially being in Orlando. Especially with the social climate. Especially with one of our safe spaces being attacked,” said Southern Nights spokesperson Blue Star to Orlando Weekly “Everybody that I know within the community is trying to get some answers.”

As District Dive is part of the largest LGBTQ nightlife complex in Orlando — anchored by longstanding nightclub Southern Nights — and with the shadow of Pulse always lingering in the periphery of our collective memory, it becomes difficult to draw any conclusion other than deliberate hate crime.

Local progressive lawmakers were quick in their respons- es to the incident, tweeting out support to the area LGBTQ community.

“My heart is so heavy — early Wednesday morning between the hours of 3:30am and 4:00am the Southern Nights Complex (District Dive, Southern Craft and Southern Nights) was a target of a hate crime,” State Rep. Anna Eskamani posted on Twitter.

“Orlando’s top LGBTQ bar strip has been vandalized,” tweeted Orlando politician and LGBTQ activist Carlos Guillermo Smith. “Please be careful out there, ya’ll!”

Despite the damage to the building, the windows were promptly boarded up, and District Dive, Southern Craft and Southern Nights all reopened on Wednesday, for normal business hours, and stayed open through the rest of the week.

“We’re a resilient community,” says Blue Star. “Once again, it’s that common statement that we will not let hate win. It’s just the way that it is. It’s the mantra that we live by. The owner made the decision, and the staff and the management made the decision, to move forward and just stand strong. And we support that.”

That defiance is shared by bar patrons. “I’ve not been deterred and have been back three times since the vandalism occurred,” said District Dive regular Scott Stowell to OW. “I will not let some awful person stop me from socializing with my community.”

The staff of District Dive urge anyone with any information on the incident to contact the Orlando Police Department.

By all appearances, OPD seem to be treating the incident as more than just garden-variety vandalism. In a public statement last week, OPD chief Eric Smith said: “The Orlando Police Department does not tolerate criminal behavior of any kind. Whoever committed this brazen vandalism against our city’s LGBTQ+ businesses will be held accountable.”

But going on a week later, the investigation seemed as yet to have not turned up anything concrete. “We are still actively investigating,” said an OPD spokesperson to Orlando Weekly on Friday afternoon. feedback@orlandoweekly.com orlandoweekly.com ● JAN. 25-31, 2023 ● ORLANDO