A Lower Mainland church has again had itsa国际传媒檚 Pride flag vandalized, the second time in less than two weeks.

Deltasa国际传媒檚 Ladner United Church posted a photo of the defaced flag to its Facebook page on Saturday afternoon (June 15). Itsa国际传媒檚 the second time in 12 days the someone has vandalized the churchsa国际传媒檚 flag, the first occurring on June 3.

In both cases, the flag was marked with what appeared to be black spray paint.

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sa国际传媒淭welve days after our #Pride flag was defaced, and one week after we installed its replacement, our flag has been defaced again. This is not simple vandalism, but a clear message and intentional criminal act,sa国际传媒� the church posted on Facebook.

sa国际传媒淟et us be clear in our response: we will not be deterred in living out the love of Christ in word and deed in our community. We are not afraid or ashamed. We encircle our #LGBTQ+ church members, family, friends, and neighbours with love and solidarity.sa国际传媒�

The June 3 vandalism sparked outrage on social media and the City of Delta and the Delta School District raised Pride flags outside their respective offices on June 5 in response to the incident, as well as to recognize June as Pride month. The events marked the first time that either the city or the district had done so.

Mayor George Harvie took to Twitter Saturday evening to condemn this most recent act vandalism.

sa国际传媒淓xtremely upset & disappointed to hear that another Pride flag at Ladner United Church was defaced. This community will not tolerate such despicable acts. #DeltaBC stands in solidarity with Ladner United Church & the LGBTQ+ community. #PrideFlag.sa国际传媒�

Extremely upset & disappointed to hear that another Pride flag at Ladner United Church was defaced. This community will not tolerate such despicable acts. stands in solidarity with Ladner United Church & the LGBTQ+ community.

sa国际传媒� Office of Mayor George V. Harvie (@MayorofDelta)

In the comments below its Facebook post, Ladner United Church said most people in the community had either been supportive, expressed a sa国际传媒渓ive and let livesa国际传媒� attitude or kept their opinions to themselves about the vandalism.

sa国际传媒淭his is the first time since wesa国际传媒檝e been flying our Pride flag (since we moved back into our restored/renovated building in 2014) that someone has taken an outright destructive action like this at our church sa国际传媒� thankfully very rare.sa国际传媒�

In thanking commenters who offered to provide the church with a new Pride flag, Ladner United said it will be determining what the churchsa国际传媒檚 sa国际传媒渟pecific next steps will besa国际传媒� at a leadership Council meeting later this week.

sa国际传媒淓ither way wesa国际传媒檒l keep having a flag up this Pride month,sa国际传媒� the church said.

In the meantime, Ladner United Church encouraged residents to sa国际传媒渢ake actionsa国际传媒� by supporting the upcoming Delta Pride Picnic on Aug. 31 sa国际传媒� either by donating, attending, or sharing and promoting the event, by writing to mayor and council to let them know itsa国际传媒檚 important that Delta is a safe and inclusive place for all residents and that they should take tangible actions to reflect that, and/or by donating to the church to help support the work it does in the community.

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editor@northdeltareporter.com
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