'He is sorry': Family of Saskatoon rainbow crosswalk vandal comes forward

The man who is responsible for vandalizing the rainbow crosswalk in Saskatoon is preparing to make an official apology.

On Tuesday night, a group of Saskatoon Pride Festival staff and volunteers gathered at the crosswalk at23rdStreet and Third Avenue N. to repaint what was defaced by black tire marks.

Pride festival co-chair DannyPapadatossaid the father of the young man who admitted to making the marks called theOUTSaskatoonoffice and spoke to them.

"It was a very emotional conversation. A lot of feelings on both ends going back and forth,"Papadatossaid. "He is sorry."

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The marks appeared on Monday, about two days after the crosswalk was painted in commemoration of the Saskatoon Pride Festival.

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According to Papadatos, the family will be releasing a statement publicly apologizing and will be paying for costs of the fix.

"He wanted us to know that it was a 20-year-old doing a stupid thing and not thinking," he continued. "He did not understand what it meant to everybody."

Although the man may not have meant to make a statement against the LGBT community, Papadatos told the crowd of volunteers to take pride in the clean-up job they had done.

"You deserve to feel at home in the place that you choose to live," he said. "You deserve to love whomever the heck you want. This is for you."

Papadatos initially called the marks a "slap in the face" and made a complaint to police after noticing a backlash on social media, including comments about defacing the rainbow crosswalk with tire marks.