Church in Massachusetts Vandalized with Pride Slogan After Removing Rainbow Flags
A church in Marblehead, Massachusetts, has been vandalized after taking down its pride flags and asking a preschool operated by a same-sex couple to move out.
As reported by the Salem News, Grace Community Church was vandalized with a graffiti message urging support for LGBTQ people after asking Pleasant Street Preschool operator Mike Richmond to move out of the school.
According to Richmond, he arrived at the Church Friday morning and found that the building had been vandalized with the message, "Stay gay, stay hard, Love is 4 everyone."
He reportedly contacted the police immediately and expressed his dissatisfaction with the actions, regardless of the message's urging of support, in an Instagram message.
"I'm so upset, I can't believe someone vandalized the church," Richmond wrote in a story posted to the preschool's Instagram page Friday.
Richmond leases space at Grace Community Church with his partner Ryan Thompson. He believes the vandalism was done in direct response to the church asking him to relocate his preschool operation.
Additionally, a video has been circulating online showing two members of the Grace Community Church staff removing Pride flags from the preschool weeks prior.
"We need to rise above," Richmond urged in his post.
Richmond added that he is organizing a peaceful protest outside the church Sunday morning, but he does not condone "this type of rage-induced action," he wrote.
The Marblehead Pride Committee also posted on Instagram that it does not condone any form of vandalism.
"Positive change happens when we are kind and respectful to ALL of our neighbors," the committee wrote.
In the words of Michelle Obama, "when they go low," we don't vandalize. Read the full story at The Salem News.