A rainbow flag that hung outside a Texas church was stolen the day before Easter with no indication of who took it.
The rainbow flag was stolen Saturday night from the Community Unitarian Universalist Church in Plano, Texas, and it was swapped with an American flag. An anonymous note explained the reason for the switch.
“I didn’t agree with your flag. So I took it down,” the note read. “If you don’t agree with this one, you can take it down. P.S. There are only 2 (two) genders.”
Church member Betsy Friauf told CNN that they realized some people may not have been happy with the congregation’s choice to fly the flag.
“We’re not naive,” she said. “Someone might decide to remove it. We decided that we would have a flag in reserve. This will be a new symbol of our renewed commitment to being a welcoming congregation.”
The Rev. Peter Price told local media outlets that no one in the church community feels threatened, but people were disheartened by the theft.
“It’s not traumatic. It’s not a crisis,” Rev. Peter Price said, “We hope that it opens up maybe a larger dialogue with the community as a whole.”
Police said the act could be considered a hate crime.
The new American flag will stay, according to Price, and will be joined by another rainbow flag outside the church.
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