The United Parish of Brookline tries to be welcoming to everyone so you’ll find rainbow-colored Adirondack chairs on the front lawn, black and brown chairs as well -- and until a few days ago a Trans Pride Flag.
“We believe the Christian faith is a progressive faith,” said Rev. Kent French. “That it’s one that’s always looking forward, always looking to include.”
But someone burned the Trans Pride flag in the middle of the night late last week at the church located on Harvard Street in Brookline, Massachusetts.
“People are challenged by difference,” said French. “And we’re living in divisive times, and so this is an expression of that.”
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Janson Wu, executive director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, says this is the latest incident in a string of anti-LGBTQ extremism, and points to the recent protest of a Drag Queen story hour in Jamaica Plain and the bomb threat at Children’s Hospital, which has been harassed for providing care for transgender youth.
“It’s fueled by the rhetoric of some of our highest elected officials,” said Wu. “Scapegoating particularly trans gender young people but also targeting transgender youth with really draconian and cruel laws.”
The church says the flag will be replaced with one that’s bigger and harder to reach.
