Community Rallies After Pride Flag Torn From S.C. Home and Burned

A Pride banner displayed at a private residence was torn down, burned, and left charred in the driveway of a Charleston, S.C., home on Sunday, The Post and Courier reports.

Local police are investigating the incident and could charge anyone involved with a hate crime; the city passed an ordinance in November increasing punishments for bias-motivated crimes, including those based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The ordinance came after a transgender woman was assaulted in the city and bricks were thrown threw the windows of an LGBTQ youth center. No one has yet been charged with a hate crime in Charleston.

The family hosting the destroyed Pride flag were an opposite-sex couple with three children. After news of the crime broke, a group called the Alliance For Full Acceptance offered similar flags to those in the community and have already distributed more than 50.

"Whenever an incident like this happens, it can really kind of get into the psyche of the LGBTQ community just knowing that this sort of thing still exists and still happened," AFFA Executive Director Chase Glenn told The Post and Courier. "But to know the incident is being taken seriously by the police is very comforting."