Latest news with #PrideFlag
The Independent
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Pride flag taken down after complaint from Christian bookshop
A Pride flag was taken down in a Derbyshire town after a Christian charity-run bookshop complained. To mark Pride Month this June, the rainbow LGBTQ+ standard was hung along Matlock's historic high street for the first time, a road known for its display of flags, including the St George's Cross, the Union Jack, and the Derbyshire county flag. But within 24 hours, the Pride flag vanished from outside Cornerstone Bookshop on Dale Road, which is run by a Christian charity. The store confirmed to The Independent that it had issued an objection to the town council 'in keeping with our faith' and that it was 'grateful for the speedy removal' of the flag. Matlock Town Council, which had installed the standard on a council-owned flagpole, said it had taken down the flag and temporarily moved it to another central location. It said it made this decision 'purely from a health and safety standpoint following communication that the flag may be forcibly removed'. Cornerstone Bookshop denied issuing any threats to take the standard down themselves. In a statement issued on behalf of local mayor Marilyn Franks and deputy mayor Ashley Orwin, the council stressed it 'stands in full support of the LGBTQIA+ community'. It added: 'The move was made without malice or prejudice, and we sincerely apologise to any individuals or groups who were hurt by this decision. We recognise how symbolic the flag is, especially during Pride Month, and we acknowledge the impact this action had, regardless of intent.' In a statement, Cornerstone Bookshop said: 'The bookshop is an inclusive organisation that wants to share the Christian faith with everyone and we do not want to advocate or condemn anyone on the basis of their belief or sexual orientation... We had to decline to fly the flag allocated to our shop, as a matter of conscience and in keeping with our faith and scriptures.' It continued: 'We are.. very grateful for the speedy removal of this flag when we raised our concern to the council.' The decision has sparked a debate in the Peak District spa town. Local resident Kate Bond said she donated £150 to the refreshment of the flags and was delighted when she saw the LGBTQ+ standard had been incorporated into her town's display. She told the Guardian: 'It's [the flag's removal and relocation] crazy. You just can't believe it. More than anything, what I'm bothered about is the fact that it's happened without anybody knowing about it. This sly little way it's been done, it's wrong somehow. If it's your idea to put them up, stand by it.' The row has also highlighted divides within the area's Christian community. Reverend Stephen Monk of St Helen's Church in Darley Dale – who is a member of the Inclusive Church network – wrote a letter to the mayor of Matlock Jason Knighton, outlining his concerns. According to the Derbyshire Times, he wrote: 'We need to be united in love. The sign of the rainbow has always been a sign of biblical hope in God's love and trust in God's invitation to be together – one diverse family.' The newspaper reported that the flag has been moved to the Garden Room café on Causeway Lane. It added that the council has now ordered more rainbow designs with other businesses are wanting to put them up.
The Guardian
a day ago
- General
- The Guardian
Dismay as Derbyshire council removes Pride flag after Christians complain
The spa town of Matlock in the Peak District is known for the joyful flags adorning its historical high street. The St George's Cross, the union flag, the Derbyshire county flag and the Pride flag flutter brightly above the town's many independent businesses. That was until a row erupted that has divided the town, after the mysterious disappearance of a Pride flag turned out to be the work of the very council that had installed it. Townspeople and the local MP are calling for its return after a LGBTQ+ standard was removed in a 'sly little way' following complaints from some Christians. Kate Bond, who lives in the Derbyshire town, said she had donated £150 to the council to refresh the flags as they had become tatty over time. 'They were such a mess because they were really old and dirty,' she said. Only the St George's Cross and the union flag had previously been flown, so when the new flags went up on the high street last week she was delighted to see the addition of the Derbyshire flag and the Pride flag, following a decision by the 11 members of Matlock town council. 'I thought it was amazing to be honest. I thought, 'Oh that's brilliant. How nice.' I was just thinking it looked really good,' she said. When a Pride flag disappeared, she thought it might be the work of lone homophobes – which has happened in various towns and cities in the UK – and was shocked to discover the council had done it, appearing to bow to pressure from a homophobic minority. 'It's crazy. You just can't believe it. More than anything, what I'm bothered about is the fact that it's happened without anybody knowing about it. This sly little way it's been done, it's wrong somehow. If it's your idea to put them up, stand by it,' she said. It is not clear how many people complained but one was Cornerstone Bookshop, run by a Christian charity, which said it was 'grateful for the speedy removal' of the Pride flag. Judy Crook, who runs the bookshop, told the Guardian that, though as 'a point of basic Christian belief, we welcome everybody', they did not want to promote homosexuality and 'we're not happy with the gay rights situation'. 'We have to respect other people's views. But we didn't want the flag flying outside our shop.' In a statement, the bookshop added: 'Fortunately, we are blessed in this country with freedom of conscience and freedom of religion legislation, enshrined in the Equality Act of 2010 which allows religion or belief as a protected characteristic. We are therefore very grateful for the speedy removal of this flag when we raised our concern to the council.' Bond, who is gay, responded: 'You can't do anything about homophobes. They're going to be in the world. So my complaint really isn't with [Crook], it's the fact that the council have agreed to it. There's obviously some people in Matlock, and perhaps just generally, that have more power than others.' The council clerk, Simon Hosmer, said: 'We removed the flag due to a strong belief someone would put themselves in danger by removing it themselves. As a town council we can ill afford damage to property let alone damage to a person that we may be liable for. 'A lot of the local community are rightly upset that this has happened. It may look to people that we have bowed under the pressure of a single complaint. That is simply not the case.' He said more Pride flags had been ordered, despite the wider Derbyshire county council, now led by Reform UK, 'wanting only union flags on public buildings'. Reform, which won a majority in the May local election, has banned the LGBTQ flag from the town hall in Matlock, along with the Ukrainian flag. The Guardian understands the council has since done a U-turn on the Ukrainian flag ban. The new administration has also introduced Christian prayer at the start of its meetings, with a Reform councillor, the group whip Dan Price, saying the UK was a 'Christian country'.
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Suspect sought after Pride flag stolen twice
Windsor police are asking for the public's help identifying a suspect after two separate thefts of a Pride flag at the same home. Officers received a report of theft at a residence in the 200 block of Moy Avenue on May 2. Through investigation, officers learned that an unknown male approached the front porch and ripped down the home's Pride flag, breaking the flagpole in the process. On June 13, police say a similar occurrence took place at the same residence, resulting in a second flag being stolen. The suspect in the May 2 incident is described as a Middle Eastern male with black afro-style hair and a short black beard and moustache. At the time of the incident, he wore a grey hoodie and black track pants with white stripes. Investigators ask residents and business owners in the area to check their surveillance or dashcam footage from May 2 and June 13, 2025, between 8 - 10 p.m., for evidence that may assist with the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Major Crimes Unit at 519-255-6700, ext. 4830. They can also contact Windsor & Essex County Crime Stoppers anonymously at 519-258-8477 (TIPS) or online at
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Baltimore neighborhood frustrated after pride flags taken down
Pride flags were forcibly taken down in a North Baltimore neighborhood as the community celebrated Pride Fest. Councilwoman Odette Ramos said at least three flags were torn down on Saturday, June 14, leaving many neighbors frustrated. Ramos said her home was among those targeted. Councilwoman's pride flag taken down After celebrating Baltimore Pride, Ramos said her husband noticed their pride flag was no longer flying on Saturday evening. They quickly realized it was intentional. Ramos found her flag on the ground, her flagpole bent and the bracket broken. "When I heard and then saw what happened, I was like on pride day," Ramos said. "It was forcibly taken down…we were able to salvage the flag." Ramos said she put out a call to other neighbors, who told her it not only happened on Saturday but other days last week. Flag removal comes after 2022 fire She said the community was frustrated that the flags were taken down. The incident comes three years after pride flags were burned in their neighborhood and a home with pride decorations was set on fire. "We're always a little concerned in my neighborhood in June because in 2022 there was a devastating fire," Ramos said. "The main house that was affected had a pride flag on it, and there were other pride flags that were burned that day, so obviously, there's a concern in the neighborhood." The pride flag was set on fire near a home on the 300 block of E. 31st Street. Then, a home across the street with pride decorations was set on fire, injuring three people. Neighbors react to removal of pride flags On Tuesday, many neighbors said they were upset and disappointed that their community was targeted again. "Why is the reaction hate and violence, and not oh okay," Abell neighborhood resident Kevin K. said. "[It's] very upsetting that it was happening during pride not knowing what the motivations are," neighborhood resident Stephanie Schreckinger added. Ramos said she and her neighbors plan to put their pride flags back up and fly them proudly as they always have. "We're a neighborhood that welcomes everyone," Ramos said. "We're going to put our pride flags back up because we feel very strongly about how we feel about our city and being allies to our neighbors." Ramos said she reported the incident to Baltimore Police and is encouraging neighbors to do the same. The community said they hope whoever did this can learn to choose love over hate.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘People didn't like women in space': how Sally Ride made history and paid the price
A week before Sally – a documentary about the first American woman to fly into space – landed at the Sundance film festival in January, Nasa employees received emails informing them how Donald Trump's diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) rollbacks would take effect. Contracts and offices associated with DEI programs were to be terminated. Staff were given Orwellian instruction to inform the government of any attempt to disguise inclusion efforts in 'coded or imprecise language'. In the weeks to follow, Nasa would take back its promise to send the first woman and person of color to the moon's surface. Meanwhile, employees are reported to be hiding their rainbow flags and any other expressions of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, allegedly because they were instructed to do so though Nasa denies those claims. 'The pride flag flew in space a couple years ago,' says Cristina Costantini, the director of Sally, on a Zoom call with the Guardian. 'Now all Nasa employees are being asked to take down any representations of pride.' Related: 'Absolutely shocking': Netflix documentary examines how the Titan sub disaster happened Costantini calls the developments sad, especially because such harmful silencing contributes to the very atmosphere that made her film's subject hide her own queer identity throughout her celebrated career. Sally Ride, who made history when she rode the space shuttle Challenger into the stars on 18 June 1983, was a lesbian. The public, and so many who knew Ride personally, only found out that part of her legacy after she died of cancer in 2012. Ride's obituary identified Tam O'Shaughnessy as her partner of 27 years. O'Shaughnessy is a key voice in Sally, a National Geographic documentary revisiting everything we thought we knew about Ride – from her astronomic accomplishments to the infuriating sexism she confronted at Nasa and in the media, with reporters questioning how she would dress, whether space travel would affect her ovaries and if she would buckle and cry in the face of daunting challenges. But now there's the extra dimension, the part of Ride kept tragically buried because of the institutionalized homophobia we see resurfacing today. 'We made this movie not thinking it was particularly controversial,' says Costantini. 'We had no idea it would be this relevant.' Costantini is speaking from her Los Angeles office in Atwater Village, a photo of a space shuttle and another of Ride on the Challenger mission hovering just behind her. The investigative reporter turned film-maker – who grew up wanting to be a scientist and made her feature debut co-directing the Sundance audience award winner Science Fair – describes Ride as a major influence on her life. She remembers researching the astronaut as a young child on an old Encarta Encyclopedia CD-Rom for a book report. In grade three, Costantini contributed to a class mural where the students in her Milwaukee school painted their heroes on a wall. Ride is drawn standing alongside Brett Favre and Michael Jordan – a small sampling of the heroes that fed childhood aspirations in the mid-90s, says Costantini. With Sally, Costantini is returning to her icon's story with a canvas bigger than either a book report or mural, but an even more challenging story to tell. 'The film is really two stories interwoven,' says Costantini. 'It's the public and the private Sally. The public Sally is so well-documented that it's a problem. We had to bring in 5,000 reels from the Nasa archive and sort through and sound sync all of them. That was a monumental task. 'And then the other task is the private story, maybe the more interesting story, which has no documentation at all. There are only five really good pictures of [Sally and her partner, Tam] together that we had. You can't build a love story out of showing people the same five pictures over and over again. For that we had to kind of invent our own cinematic romantic language.' Costantini's doc pairs narrations from O'Shaughnessy and others who were close to Ride with animation and 16mm visuals. They express the love, the excitement of first relationships, the heavy toll from keeping these feelings secret and the sting when Ride – whose noted emotional reserve is making more and more sense – would behave inexplicably. 'Sally is a very confusing central subject in some ways,' says Costantini, remarking on how Ride didn't always make for a picture-perfect feminist hero, the uneasiness going a long way to make her even more compelling. The director refers to a story recounted by fellow astronaut Kathryn Sullivan. During the race to become the first American woman to go to space, Ride sabotaged a Nasa exercise Sullivan was working on. Talking heads mull whether that was an example of Ride's prankster sense of humour, or a cutthroat competitive nature that flew in the face of female solidarity and sisterhood. 'She didn't leave tell all diaries or an audio journal of how she was feeling in every single moment. So we're left to interpret later on what her choices were, and why she did what she did.' Costantini also points to Ride's five-year marriage to fellow astronaut Steve Hawley. The union in retrospect can be seen as a betrayal of who she was, and the LGTBQ+ movement that she never publicly aligned with. But it was also a necessary and sacrificial career move to make her dream possible, deflecting any suspicions about sexual orientation while making Ride a more ideal candidate to make history and inspire young women. 'People didn't like women in space,' says Costantini. 'And they especially didn't like single women in space. Some of the male astronauts were, like: 'Well, it was a good look for her not to be single and in space.'' When Ride does climb above the atmosphere on her historic mission, there's a cathartic moment where the tense conflicts within her – or put upon her – are either resolved or abandoned, if only temporarily. Related: Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story review – dazzling glamour and true grit 'I loved being weightless,' says Ride, while in space, her recorded words packing new mean considering all the burdens we now understand. 'It's a feeling of freedom.' 'She escaped Earth's orbit – Earth's gravity – metaphorically too,' says Costantini, on that pivotal moment in American history and Ride's personal life. 'Looking at the Earth from space, she started to, for the first time, really think about the imaginary lines that we have. She was struck by the fact that all these countries have known borders around them. These are human constructions. As Tam says in the film, the lines between genders, the lines between race, the lines between countries, who we're allowed to love, those are meaningless constructs. 'Space was transformative for her. When she came back to Earth, she finally allowed herself to be who she really is, and love who she really loved.' Sally premieres on National Geographic on 16 June and is available on Hulu and Disney+ on 17 June
