Police investigate after church’s pride flag damaged

Vandalism highlights ‘need for a safe space,’ reverend says

Baltimore Police are investigating a destruction of property hate crime after a man scaled the wall of a Federal Hill church Sunday to rip an LGBTQ+ pride flag hanging from the building.

A witness told a church leader that a man stepped on a flowerpot and grabbed the flag to scale the wall of Light Street Presbyterian Church, where the flag hung 10 feet off the ground. After falling to the ground once, the man climbed the wall again and used a knife to rip the flag in half, police wrote in an incident report.

The man said, “Gay people are an abomination,” while cutting the flag, the witness told the Rev. Tim Hughes-Williams, who reported the incident to police Monday.

The suspect fled in a vehicle. An officer canvassed the area for cameras but did not find any, police wrote.

Hughes-Williams, who leads the congregation at Light Street Presbyterian, said Monday that it was “kind of scary and sad that there are people who feel that strongly about” the symbol, noting the church used a newer version of the rainbow flag that includes a chevron to represent people who are transgender and people of color.

The vandalism “highlighted the need for a safe space,” which his church has provided, Hughes-Williams said. The progressive church displayed the flag to be “unequivocal about our support of the LGBTQ+ community,” he added.

The church is raising funds to replace the flag, and planning to donate additional cash to local LGBTQ+ advocacy group FreeState Justice in an effort to change the narrative from the vandalism to the story of “a strong community made stronger through love, mutual aid, and justice,” Hughes-Williams wrote.

Pride flags were the target of an arson that destroyed four houses and injured three people in North Baltimore’s Abell neighborhood during Pride Month last year. The June 15 fire torched a rowhouse that had a pride flag hanging on its porch and quickly spread to three other homes. Across the street, another house displaying a pride flag was set on fire almost simultaneously. In response, many neighbors put up their own flags.

Det. Niki Fennoy, a police spokesperson, said Monday that the arson case is still open and active, but at this time, there’s nothing to lead investigators to believe it was a hate crime.