I was out of town on holiday for 2 weeks -- more on that soon -- and while I was away someone burned my pride flag!
I was in a hotel room and happened to notice the security camera notification on my phone, where I saw that the flag looked like it had gotten torn. My first thought was that it had snagged on something and torn. But as I looked further back in the camera events, I found where a man had come into my front yard at night and lit my flag on fire! Thank goodness flags are fire resistant!
Here's a cropped still from the video showing the flame after it got started.

Here's what I saw the next day on camera --

And my neighbors noticed. And I knew I had good neighbors, but maybe I didn't realize how good they were. Both neighbors on either side put up a pride flag after mine was burned. That really did make me feel better while I was away!

I also had a friend who kept more watch over the house after this happened. And I got a lot of emotional support from other friends after I texted them and told them what happened.
The vandalism itself was not great, but what was worse was that this person burned something next to my house, which could have burned the house...or even burned me if I had been home during a fire.
I called the local police department while I was overseas and filed a report.
***
I had not flown a pride flag in 20+ years. I used to fly one all year long in my last apartment. In the house, I just hadn't felt the need. But the rise of the white supremicist movement made me realize it was time to fly one. So last year, I put one up and plan to keep doing it going forward.
This was one of the first things I did after I got back last night -

I was in a hotel room and happened to notice the security camera notification on my phone, where I saw that the flag looked like it had gotten torn. My first thought was that it had snagged on something and torn. But as I looked further back in the camera events, I found where a man had come into my front yard at night and lit my flag on fire! Thank goodness flags are fire resistant!
Here's a cropped still from the video showing the flame after it got started.

Here's what I saw the next day on camera --

And my neighbors noticed. And I knew I had good neighbors, but maybe I didn't realize how good they were. Both neighbors on either side put up a pride flag after mine was burned. That really did make me feel better while I was away!

I also had a friend who kept more watch over the house after this happened. And I got a lot of emotional support from other friends after I texted them and told them what happened.
The vandalism itself was not great, but what was worse was that this person burned something next to my house, which could have burned the house...or even burned me if I had been home during a fire.
I called the local police department while I was overseas and filed a report.
***
I had not flown a pride flag in 20+ years. I used to fly one all year long in my last apartment. In the house, I just hadn't felt the need. But the rise of the white supremicist movement made me realize it was time to fly one. So last year, I put one up and plan to keep doing it going forward.
This was one of the first things I did after I got back last night -
