Blue Orchid Vandalized

By Dereen Shirnekhi, New Haven Independent

NEW HAVEN, CT — When a man broke the window of downtown restaurant and bar Blue Orchid on Saturday, it was just the latest in a string of acts of vandalism that the queer space has seen in its four years on Court Street.

According to video footage of the incident, the man used a large pipe to shatter a window outside of Blue Orchid at around 11 a.m. Witnesses called the police, who arrested a 53-year-old suspect at around 3 p.m. that same day.

State court records show that the arrestee has been charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief in the third degree and a felony count of carrying a dangerous weapon. He was released on a promise to appear, and has not yet entered pleas to those charges.

New Haven Police Department spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart said that the suspect has been arrested 33 times since 2000.

Bruckhart said that it doesn’t seem as if this was a hate crime, as the suspect didn’t say anything to make officers believe the vandalism was motivated by bias.

Still, according to Kyu Flora, who owns Blue Orchid with his partner, acts of violence and harassment are nothing new for the pan-Asian restaurant, which also operates as a proudly queer space, hosting drag shows and displaying rainbow pride flags.

“I was angry the first time this happened,” said Flora on Monday. “At this point, I’m past the angry stage. When it happens, it happens again.”

Flora said he didn’t want to claim Saturday’s attack was a hate crime if that couldn’t be proven.

Flora said that Blue Orchid’s pride flag, which typically hangs prominently outside of the restaurant, has been stolen a few times. Pride stickers on the door have been scratched off. Last year, someone damaged both their sign and their flag. The night before the latest act of vandalism, Flora said, a group of kids walked into the restaurant and began shouting homophobic slurs.

“Of course I feel unsafe,” he said. “Not for myself — for our customers, our community. What if it happened to someone and not the glass?”

The suspect received a summons and a Dec. 15 court date for his two charges. Flora said he wasn’t sure why police didn’t detain the suspect. “If he can carry the pipe, clearly he’s dangerous to someone,” Flora said, while acknowledging that he believed police were doing what they could.

Bruckhart explained that, depending on the charges, it’s up to the officer’s discretion whether suspects should be processed and taken into custody. In this case, he said, the charges were “pretty low,” and a summons can be issued as an act of expediency. If the suspect was in custody, Bruckhart said, the suspect would have likely received a “Promise To Appear” or received a low bond anyway.

Saturday’s events, like all acts of violence that Blue Orchid has seen, won’t change anything for the establishment, according to Flora.

“We have a lot of love from our community,” he said.

Right now, the pride flag isn’t up outside the restaurant — but that’s just because the wind knocked it down. “It always comes back up,” Flora said.

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.