These are not crimes motivated by a youthful disrespect for authority and property, but by learned hate for a specific group of people. These teenagers are not equal opportunity offenders. The flags are a symbol of the LGBTQ community and destroying them sends a message of disrespect and hate to those same people. Matt Pennington said, “If you are targeting a specific group of people, that’s a problem… We would call that a hate crime in Utah.” In that case, we ought to openly call these acts what they are - hate crimes - because vandalizing pride flags does target a specific group of people. Regarding other stolen flags, South Jordan Police Lt.
Matt Rickards, the team’s head coach, said that “There’s no place for that in our program at all, and it won’t be tolerated … It’s potentially a hate crime, so it sickens me.”
There is no way to read this video as innocent fun. Choppy footage bounces as one student’s voice is heard slowly chanting “all gays die” as another student cackles excitedly. This week, two students from Kearns High were indefinitely suspended from the school football team for posting a video of burning a pride flag. Many write off tearing a pride flag from a neighbor’s porch as playful vandalism, but these people are defiling these flags because they view LGBTQ people with suspicion and misunderstanding, if not latent bigotry. I remember my own high school years quite clearly, specifically the cruel way students would target those who were different from themselves, jeering at them, with many accusing - as if the act itself were damnation - these outcasts of being gay. Puckish teens are old enough to know what they are doing and who they are doing it to. This behavior cannot be excused as the impulses of youth, even if it is teenagers who are responsible for these crimes, as is often the case. The intent behind these acts is often willfully ignored or rationalized - what if it is just kids being kids? Whatever harm these thefts have caused is immediately downplayed and the perpetrators are shielded by the benefit of the doubt. Earlier this year, a pride flag was shredded outside a restaurant in Salt Lake City, a liberal bastion in this deep red state. During Pride Month this year, flags were stolen in Saratoga Springs, Herriman and South Jordan. During Provo Pride week last year, a congregational church sign announcing special celebratory services was vandalized and pride flags disappeared across the city - some later turning up again with messages such as “being gay is a sin” and “screw the f***” scrawled onto the colorful fabric. Despite increasing LGBTQ acceptance nationwide, cities throughout Utah have been the locations of backlash against these flags. Yet there are those who wish to remind the queer community that they are not welcomed by all. Project Rainbow, a local nonprofit, delivers and plants these pride flags across the state, helping LGBTQ Utahns stand proud and providing their allies with an “opportunity … to show love and support for their LGBTQ-identifying neighbors, friends and family members.” Throughout the month of June, pride flags have fluttered in front of many Utah homes and businesses, symbols of support for the LGBTQ community and celebration of its perseverance in an often-unfriendly world.