An act of vandalism has a church in Beamsville doubling down on its commitment to be inclusive to the LGBTQ2 community.
Trinity United Church held a second flag-raising ceremony on Wednesday evening ahead of the beginning of Pride month after its flag was torn down over the weekend.
Irene Romagnoli, chair of the church’s affirming committee, told Global News that the church viewed security camera footage of a group of youths bringing down both the Canadian flag and the Pride flag on Saturday night.
She said that the security footage is too grainy to make out the faces of those involved but that the video appears to show them using their phones to take photos or videos of themselves in the act.
“We’re hoping that they will be silly enough to start posting that on their socials.”
In a media release on Wednesday, Niagara regional police confirmed that they are investigating what happened.
“Video footage depicts five persons entering onto the property,” reads the release. “Three persons can be seen interacting with the flagpole.”
Police also say the investigation is being treated as “potentially a hate-based incident.”
Trinity United Church was recently designated as an “affirming church” within the United Church of Canada, which means it welcomes and accepts everyone, no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation or identity, housing, poverty, or marginalized status.
Romagnoli said the position of inclusivity is especially important in the town of Lincoln, which leans toward being more conservative.
“We are doing everything we can to be very bold and intentional about supporting our Pride community within Beamsville, which is not a very well-known community. It’s a very quiet, under-spoken community.”
The church will be making the Pride flag permanent and plans to add more flags, with the goal of making its position as an inclusive space as visible as possible.
If police do find out who is responsible for destroying the flag, Romagnoli said she hopes the church can respond to the act through education and conversation.
“We don’t want to yell at them. We don’t want to tell them that they’re terrible people. We just want to understand what they were thinking when they did it and see if there’s anything we can do to help them think differently.”
Anyone with information can contact Niagara police at 905-688-4111, option 3, ext. 1009023, or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously online or at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).