Dennis Williams was leaving Bethesda United Methodist Church, on Tuesday, when he discovered the church’s two-story tall LGBTQ pride banner on the side of the building had been torn up and destroyed.
“I’m a member of the LGBTQIA+ community … It was gut wrenching,” said Williams, who works as a children’s minister at the church. “It made me emotional, because we belong to a church that is so welcoming and has embraced us as a family so well. It was really sad to see.”
The church had put up security cameras earlier this year “out of an abundance of caution,” Williams said, after hearing reports of other churches experiencing hostility for hanging up pride flags and banners.
The cameras were able to catch footage of a person in a white hoodie destroying the banner around 9:35 p.m. on Tuesday night, over an hour after the last parishioners had left the church following an event. The vandals’ facial features are not distinguishable.
The church reported the incident to the Montgomery County Police Department, Williams said, who are reviewing the footage and investigating.
Williams said the church put up the flag banner in June in recognition of Pride Month. He said because the banner was large and bolted down to the brick building, someone would have to work hard to destroy it.
“It is important for our church to put [the banner] up so the LGBTQ+ community knows we’re a supportive church,” Williams said.
Pilgrim Church in Silver Spring experienced a similar incident in January, when someone slashed its pride flag in half. In June, several pride flags hanging outside homes in downtown Silver Spring were burned and destroyed.
In November 2022, Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church rededicated its progress Pride flag after it was targeted twice. The first time it was stolen and the second time it was cut down off the flagpole, according to a release from the church.
The county has also seen dozens of hate incidents targeting other marginalized groups, particularly a large uptick in antisemitic hate activity, including at schools.
The number of bias incidents in the county has grown 69% over four years, from 93 in 2018 to 157 in 2022, according to the county police department. Montgomery County Public Schools data revealed that the school system received 237 reports of hate bias incidents over the course of the 2022-23 school year. Of them, 45.7% were race-based, 37.8% were religion-based and the remaining 16.5% were LGBTQ-related.
In June, Montgomery County Council President Evan Glass created an anti-hate task force, which aims to address and prevent hate crimes within the county. The board is made up of over 30 community members representing marginalized groups.
Williams said the church is planning to order a new banner.
“We’re not gonna let this stop us,” Williams said.
Williams said that despite a progressive local government, “the hate is out there” in Montgomery County, and that it’s important for people to stay on guard.
“You think we live in a county that is open and progressive, but it’s not always so,” Williams said, noting his disappointment with people protesting LGBTQ+ books in Montgomery County Public Schools. “Everyone takes it for granted, they assume this can’t happen in Montgomery County. They’re shocked to know that it happened because they think it can’t happen here until it does.”