LGBTQ community in Doylestown undeterred by theft of the Pride flag: “We love them more than they hate us”

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS) – Police in Bucks County are searching for the theft of a Pride flag from Monument Square in Doylestown County.

The flag was raised on June 1 to celebrate the start of Pride Month.

“Someone tried to attack LGBTQ visibility and pride and love,” said Marlene Pray, director of the Rainbow Room and member of the Doylestown Pride Festival Committee.

Central Bucks Police report that just before 2 a.m. on June 13, someone cut the rope that held both the Pride flag and an American flag. A person then stole the Pride flag and left the American flag on the sidewalk before riding away on a motorcycle.

Pray said this was the seventh known act of vandalism of a Pride flag in the district in the last year.

Last June, CBS News Philadelphia reports on the theft of rainbow flags in front of Evolution Candy on nearby State Street and in front of Volume One Hair Salon on Oakland Avenue.

“The Doylestown Pride Festival, which works with the community to raise the flag, has already ordered two replacement flags in anticipation that something like this may happen again. It will only be a matter of minutes or hours before we can fly our Pride flag high again,” Pray said.

Pray said security measures have been increased for events across the region during Pride Month, but she also stressed that love always wins.

“We love them more than they hate us,” Pray said. “It doesn’t matter how many times you destroy a flag. We are here. We are part of the neighborhood and the community. We are your neighbors, your family and your friends, and we are not going anywhere.”

Anyone with information about the theft is asked to call Central Bucks Police at 215-345-4143 or email Detective Sergeant Darien Derstine at [email protected].