BROOKLINE, MASS. (WHDH) - Officials with United Parish on Harvard Street in Brookline say someone burned the church’s trans pride flag.
The incident, which happened on the church’s lawn on Thursday, August 25, has been reported to the Brookline Police Department.
The church released a statement, reading in part:
“The hate and violence shown on our lawn has no place in the kind of world that Jesus imagined and God created. No act of vandalism will deter us from expressing Christ’s love as fully as possible in order to overcome this kind of hatred.”
The senior pastor of the church, Kent French, says someone broke the flagpole once before, adding “We didn’t think a lot of that being broken. We have a very windy front lawn. But when we saw this, it’s clearly some sort of vandalism.”
French says he’s the fourth openly queer pastor at United Parish, and that he would be willing to have a conversation with whomever burned the flag.
“There are other channels for this kind of anger or hate,” says French. “Disrespect is not one of them. We would rather be in dialogue with you, and talk to you about why we believe the way we do.”
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