'Cowardly act': Over 200 pride flags stolen in Massachusetts town overnight, police say

Over 200 pride flags were stolen from a display in a Massachusetts town outside of Boston just days before a local pride event and the start of Pride Month, according to town officials.

The flags were taken from the rotary at the center of Carlisle near the intersection of Lowell Street, Bedford Road and Westford Road, the Carlisle Police Department said in a news release Friday. They were last seen on May 26 and were stolen overnight between Sunday and Monday, according to police.

Carlisle town officials said the flags were lawfully permitted to be placed in the area and that they were put there to celebrate the beginning of Pride Month.

"Stealing property and undermining freedom of expression is a cowardly act and has no place in our town," the Carlisle Select Board said in a statement to the town of over 5,000 people. "We are saddened by this act and for the harm it has caused."

The police department said it is actively investigating the theft and have asked for the public's assistance.

"We are taking this very seriously," Carlisle police Chief Andrew Amendola said in a statement. "It is unfortunate, as Carlisle is an inclusive community, and we want everyone to feel safe and welcomed here."

The incident is the latest involving the LGBTQ+ community, which has seen a rash of attacks and a surge in legislation targeting LGBTQ+ rights in recent years. Advocacy groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign, reported a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills that were introduced in state legislatures across the United States last year.

More than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were proposed in 2023, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest gay rights organization. In June 2023, the organization issued a "state of emergency" after over 75 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were signed into law in various states, more than doubling the number of such bills in 2022.

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Pride flags replaced ahead of community event, reports say

Community members in Carlisle quickly came together to replace the hundreds of flags before the scheduled pride event on Friday afternoon, NBC Boston and CBS Boston reported. The event has grown in popularity in recent years and had a large turnout on Friday, according to WCVB-TV and CBS Boston.

Organizers for the pride event told WCVB-TV that they were determined to not let the incident distract them.

"Actually, it's brought a lot more interest in this. Carlisle always responds with love. It's kind of amazing. Someone wrote something anti-LGBTQ+ rights a few years and the whole town put out Pride flags," Pride festival organizer Rachel Freed told the television station.

Recent attacks on LGBTQ+ pride flags

Pride flags were stolen or destroyed in numerous incidents across several states last year. Ahead of a Pride Day assembly at an elementary school in North Hollywood, California, authorities said a person broke into the school and set a small LGBTQ+ flag on fire that was displayed in a flower pot in May 2023.

In one week alone in June 2023, authorities said pride flags were stolen, slashed or burned in at least five states, including California, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. Similar incidents had also occurred in the previous month in California and New York, including a man that defecated on a pride flag in Manhattan.

In Omaha, Nebraska, a masked man set fire to a pride flag being displayed outside a home on June 2. Authorities said a pride flag had been stolen from the home before in April.

Just a day later, police arrested a teenage boy on suspicion of ripping a pride flag while pulling it down from a home in Huntington Beach, California. Then on June 6, authorities said someone took down a pride flag outside the city hall in Tempe, Arizona, and burned it.

Last August, a Colorado man was arrested and charged after he allegedly removed and destroyed pride flags at New York City's Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights and history.

Incidents have also turned violent, including when a Southern California shop owner was shot and killed over a pride flag on display outside her store in August 2023.

Contributing: Claire Thornton and Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY