This Family Has Seen A Huge Outpouring Of Support After Their Home Was Hit With Anti-Gay Graffiti

    "This is my family, this is my home, and I’m not moving."

    Lauren Strapagiel
    by Lauren Strapagiel

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Brett Alford-Jones was just pulling into his Pickering, Ontario, home last Tuesday, his five-year-old daughter in tow, when he saw this message spray-painted across his garage.

    Brett Alford-Jones

    "We don't like faget [sic]," it said. "Time to move, 30 days."

    Alford-Jones, his husband Paul, and their daughter moved into the house a year ago after Alford-Jones' father had a stroke. He's lived there on and off for four decades.

    At first he thought it was a joke, and even called his brother to check. Then it hit him that it was serious.

    "I kind of lost it, I started shaking," Alford-Jones told BuzzFeed Canada.

    "It just kind of dawned on me... Am I being watched?"

    Alford-Jones (left) rushed his daughter inside before calling his husband.

    Brett Alford-Jones

    "He raced home," said Alford-Jones, about his husband. "It’s really affected him a lot. When he was younger he was gay bashed and I think the threat sort of opened the floodgates for him."

    They called the police who came the next day and are now investigating the incident as a hate crime.

    Alford-Jones said they're just baffled as to who could have left the message, as they've had no issues before and keep to themselves.

    As upsetting as the message was, however, the outpouring of support has also been an emotional experience. The day after the message was found, friends from Toronto drove down to cover it up. Alford-Jones said he's also received tons of messages from strangers offering to help.

    "People are willing to sit in my driveway at night and watch the property," he said. "This has really changed my pessimistic outlook — total strangers are just giving us total support."

    They also have absolutely zero plans to relocate.

    Brett Alford-Jones

    "This is my family, this is my home, and I’m not moving," he said.

    "All I can say is this thing, as much as it has unnerved us, it has done nothing to change our way of living or how we bring our daughter up. It was a waste of someone’s time, really."