Several cases of anti-gay harassment from construction workers building The Cairo, a new condominium complex adjacent to The Flame on Park Boulevard, have been reported. In the past two weeks, three incidences of harassment have been reported to The Center.

The most recent incidence took place on Dec. 3 at approximately 10:30 a.m., when a local businessman parked his car in front of the site and was told by construction workers that he could not park there.

“I looked around and saw no signs in the vicinity designating it as a no parking area,” Mick Frasca, president and C.E.O. of Sierra Blue Internet, said in a letter of complaint faxed to City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez, chair of the Chief of Police Advisory Board. “I pointed this out to the men and said that I would be leaving in about 20 minutes. As I walked across Park Boulevard, I heard them say that they should drop something on my car.”

After returning to the car a few minutes later to put money in the parking meter, one of the workers called Frasca a “stupid faggot.”

“I then invited him to come down to street level to repeat his name calling, which he declined,” Frasca wrote. “Instead, he said, ‘go away faggot.’”

Richard Britton, co-owner of Numbers and The Flame and a board member at The Center, witnessed the incident and walked across the street to intervene. As he approached, the worker shouted “Fuck you, faggot,” Britton recounted, and when Britton asked to speak to the site supervisor, the worker told him to “Find him yourself, faggot.”

Britton finally spoke with the site supervisor, who was apologetic and said he would take care of it.

“As I was sitting across the street finishing my coffee, I saw the supervisor approach the worker, talk to him for a few minutes, laugh and pat him on the back,” Britton said. “That, in my opinion, was not handling the situation.”

Frasca and Britton spoke with The Center and with Murray-Ramirez, who requested Frasca write up a formal letter of complaint.

After receiving Frasca’s letter, Murray-Ramirez contacted the general contractor on the site, Josh Zigman of Pointer Construction, who said he had not heard of any other incidences of anti-gay harassment.

“He immediately expressed his concern,” Murray-Ramirez said of Zigman, and added that at his request, Zigman called Frasca and Britton within 15 minutes to apologize. Additionally, Zigman said his company would incorporate sensitivity training into the company’s weekly safety training meetings, which The Center may take part in, and said that the worker who harassed Britton and Frasca had been removed from the site.

“He will not be back,” Zigman told the Gay & Lesbian Times about the subcontractor, who worked for A&D Steel. “We can’t control everybody,” he continued. “If it was one of my people, I’d fire them, but as far as subcontractors go, we’ll be telling them to keep their mouths shut if they’re a bigot – and not just against gays and lesbians, but against any minority.”

Zigman told Britton he would follow up with him later in the week about the matter.

“Too many times, members of the GLBT community experience this type of harassment and just walk away,” Murray-Ramirez said. “To me, Mick and Richard are an example of what every GLBT community member should do – to not walk away and let it go.”

“People need to make the phone calls when this happens,” Britton agreed. “If we hadn’t made the phone calls, this would still be going on. … People need to utilize The Center and make complaints when this happens so that we can take care of it.”