Thefts, vandalism and hate in Pierce County: This is why the Pride flag matters | Opinion
This is precisely why it matters — in case there was any doubt remaining.
When the city of Fircrest voted to fly the Pride flag over city facilities earlier this month, this is why it was such a meaningful decision for so many people.
And when Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier decided, a year ago now, to thwart efforts to fly the flag over county facilities, this is why so many people took it as an attack.
The Pride flag is just a symbol, sure. But what it symbolizes — support for a historically targeted and vulnerable population — is as important as ever.
In the world we currently live in, there’s no good excuse for riding the fence.
Symbols matter, and everyone deserves to feel like they belong.
What do I mean? Just look around.
Even if the fight for LGBTQ rights and recognition has come a long way since Stonewall, the stakes remain high.
On Thursday, The News Tribune’s Jack Glenn reported on recent acts of vandalism at the Fox Island United Church of Christ. Specifically, a rainbow flag sign emblazoned with the words “A Just World For All” had been targeted twice in the last week, a period that just happens to fall smack-dab in the middle of national Pride month.
The second time the flag was desecrated a profane message — “(expletive) off” — was spray painted over the sign.
Members of the church’s leadership team said the vandalism was “disheartening. They also described it as part of an escalating trend.
“We almost expect it,” a candid United Church of Christ board trustee told The News Tribune, citing three previous incidents of LGBTQ-targeted vandalism at the church.
On June 15, The News Tribune’s Craig Sailor had a similar story — this one reported from North Tacoma and Ruston.
Over the course of a single weekend, at least nine Pride flags had been stolen in the area, according to Tacoma police. A married couple from Old Town told The News Tribune that the theft of a Pride flag flying from the second story of their home felt personal. Police were investigating the spate of thefts as potential hate crimes.
“This is who I am as a person,” Joe Hargrave said when asked about the impact of the theft, which he discovered on an otherwise routine morning while taking his dogs outside. “That flag represents the core of me.”
When you get right down to it, that’s the thing: We can argue until we’re blue in the face about what’s divisive and what’s not, but, at its essence, all the Pride flag does is validate the existence — and the inherent human worth — of real people in Pierce County and beyond. They’re our neighbors, our friends and our children. A Pride flag is little more than a visible sign that they’re welcome — and that they’re loved — and that’s still an essential message to send.
Why? At a conference focused on the reporting of hate crimes late last year in Tacoma, now-former U.S. Attorney Nick Brown told attendees that local incidents targeting the LGBTQ community have notably increased, echoing national concerns more recently expressed by the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, beyond Pierce County, ample evidence of the hate coursing through our country can be found, whether it’s in conservative boycotts of Target in response to the store’s Pride month merchandise or in the continued politically-fueled attacks targeting the trans and gender non-conforming community. Unfortunately, there are many examples I could list.
In the face of all of it, there’s one simple thing we can all do — visibly show love and support. It’s why Fircrest’s decision to hoist the Pride flag was a big deal, and why the county’s reluctance to do so is, too.
Asked why he flies the Pride flag, Hargrave put it in simple terms.
It’s not about politics, he suggested. It’s much bigger than that.
“For all those people out there that see this flag, just know that someone who lives here supports you, understands what you’re going through,” Hargrave said.
“It’s a safe space.”
This story was originally published June 23, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
