Woman to return Pride flag stolen from Grand Haven church, citing regret

Below is a new story published by WZZM13 about the theft and return of our parish pride flag.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich — A woman who stole a Pride flag off the front entrance of a Grand Haven church late Friday night now says she will return the flag.

In a security video provided to 13 ON YOUR SIDE from St. John’s Episcopal Church, the woman is seen going up the steps to the church and removing the flag before walking away with it. Another woman who was walking with her appears to be recording the incident on her phone.

“It does reflect that deeper sickness in our culture where LGBTQ people and advocacy for LGBTQ people, for some reason, is seen as threatening or dangerous for the broader culture,” Father Jared Cramer of St. John’s Episcopal Church says.

Father Cramer said the woman’s boyfriend has since called the church, saying the woman was drunk at the time after being at a bar. The boyfriend explained that the woman is sorry and will return it.

“We're happy to take the flag back, to forgive her and to accept her expression of contrition,” Father Cramer said. “The reality that in our culture today, if someone is drunk and they see a pride flag, their response is to want to do something negative to that flag, to take it, to desecrate it, to do something like that is just very deeply disturbing.”

This isn’t the first time someone has taken the church’s pride flag.

“We had one that was stolen a couple years ago that was a much more violent act [where] someone physically tore it off the pole,” Father Cramer said. "[We] never found that person, never got it back.”

Stolen pride flags have become enough of a concern that Father Cramer actually purchased a backup flag pole for times just like these.

“We will absolutely keep buying flag poles and buying flags as long as we have to to make sure that people always know when they walk by or drive by St. John's that this is a safe place for the queer community,” Father Cramer said.

While he is glad the woman now regrets what she did and he’s happy to see the flag get returned soon, Father Cramer said he hopes the community can learn from poor decisions like this one.

“I would hope, particularly in Western Michigan, which is a generally more religious culture, that if someone walks by a church and sees something they don't agree with, their response isn't 'I'm going to do something against that church,'" he said. "The choices we make reflect larger realities, and maybe we should all consider those choices a little more carefully.