Pride flag at Ladner church defaced a second time
Posted June 16, 2019 2:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LADNER, B.C. (NEWS 1130) – Less than two weeks after a Pride flag that hung in front of a Ladner church was vandalized, the flag has been defaced again.
Ladner United Church replaced the Pride flag hanging at their front door earlier this month after a black spot was spraypainted at its centre.
In a Facebook post on June 15, the church said their flag had been intentionally damaged a second time – again with black spray paint.
In the post, the church said: “Let us be clear in our response: we will not be deterred in living out the love of Christ in word and deed in our community. We are not afraid or ashamed. We encircle our #LGBTQ+ church members, family, friends, and neighbours with love and solidarity.”
Lydia Elder, who manages communications for the church, says both the June 2 and the June 15 incident have been reported to Delta Police.
“We’ve had a number of our neighbours who express to us that, for themselves as LGBT persons, this makes them feel unsafe, this makes them very concerned,” she says. “We don’t want that.”
The church’s Facebook post says the defacing isn’t ambiguous: “This is not simple vandalism, but a clear message and intentional criminal act,” and Elder seconds that.
“We want to be very clear in our response that we will not be intimidated, we will not be dissuaded from our support and solidarity with the LGBTQ community.”
Reverend Jim Short told NEWS 1130 after the first incident that it shows how far society still has to go.
“A person’s sexual orientation or their gender in and of itself is not an issue. Everybody stands on the same playing field and that’s at the heart of who this church is, it’s at the heart of who I am,” he said. “A little act of vandalism doesn’t deter us.”
