‘Collective rage’ over arson attack on local queer bar
Beloved LGBTQIA+ bar Come To Daddy was the target of an arson attack on Tuesday night but it’s owner says the community has rallied.
On Tuesday April 28 around 9:00 pm, rainbow bunting was set alight outside the dining area and footpath of West End venue Come To Daddy, a gay-owned and run bar for the queer community.
Though owner Billerwell Daye was not present at the time, members of the local community who witnessed the attack alerted neighbouring business Urban Climb.
“I immediately was kind of in a bit of shock, I didn’t fully comprehend [it],” Daye says.”It was members of the Urban Climb team that came and basically put it out and cleaned it all up for us.”
No details of who started the attack are known at this time.
“Then it was like, OK, I need to get ready and get into work and just see,” Daye says. “I didn’t know what the damage level was going to be like when I got in.”
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Daye said he was relieved to see how little damage there was when he made it to Come To Daddy, only some burnt fragments of bunting left lying on the ground.
“So many people asked me, have you got security cameras? And we don’t.”
So Daye started a GoFundMe with a goal for $7,500 to raise enough money to improve the venue’s security and lighting.
“Obviously the priority is getting a really good security system, cameras, monitors and good sensor lighting outside so that when we’re not physically here and can’t be the eyes on the street ourselves, that there is some kind of protection mechanism here.”
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The fundraiser surpassed its original goal within two days – at the time of writing, $8,755 has been raised. Daye says he will use the extra money to upgrade the venue.
“I did say within the campaign fund that if it got to $7,500 that we’d basically put a pool table inside and it would be free pool for everyone for eternity,” he said.
“There’s been input from the community saying they want maybe a bit more of rainbow identity outside, maybe painting rainbow colours at the foot of the building or for a mural on the outside of the building.”
He adds that there’s been input from the community saying they want more of a rainbow identity outside the venue, through painting rainbow colours at the entry or painting a mural outside the building.
“We’ll just retaliate as best we can in this way of raising some funds to help us be a bit more visible because visibility is everything here and especially for the queer community it’s really important.”
The community response to the attack has been amazing, Daye says.
“It’s really overwhelming that everyone’s just been so generous, but there was a kind of a collective rage that kind of emanated from the whole thing,” he explains.
“So I think being the queer community, when this kind of event does happen, it affects us all and everyone feels that and they’re there to basically stand side by side with me and go, we’re not going to take it.”
Daye says he will take down the fundraiser on Sunday morning.
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