<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/massachusetts">Massachusetts</a> church was vandalized with LGBTQ graffiti and was subject to a 150-person </span><a href="https://www.newsbreak.com/marblehead-ma/3062487217997-peaceful-protest-outside-grace-community-church-after-pride-flag-controversy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">protest</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> after it evicted a preschool that hung Pride flags on church property.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Grace Community Church, located near Salem, Massachusetts, was targeted with spray paint on its outer wall that read, “Stay Gay. Stay Hard. Love is 4 everyone” with a crude rainbow drawn between the words.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The vandalism </span><a href="https://www.salemnews.com/news/church-vandalized-after-parishioners-remove-pride-flags-from-preschool-run-by-gay-couple/article_3e969688-0bbb-11ee-923a-2760b5c3d16b.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">occurred</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> amid the church’s battle with Mike Richmond, a gay man who owns Pleasant Street Preschool, which rents out a Sunday school classroom from the church. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The school posted Pride flags outside the classroom, and Richmond recorded a </span><a href="https://www.salemnews.com/pride-flags-outside-grace-community-church/video_fdc22338-0bbb-11ee-986b-2bd04cc4c2b3.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">video</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of two church members, Richard and Anne Steadman, removing the flags he posted outside the church. As Richmond and his boyfriend, Ryan Thompson, approached the couple, they engaged in a verbal dispute.</span></p>
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<p>“Why are you guys taking down the pride flags?” Richmond asked as the two men crossed the street to the church.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Because it’s a church that does not celebrate — you can have your time, but we don’t want to celebrate it if we don’t have to,” Mrs. Steadman said. “We’re also a church that believes in the Bible.” She added, “We have the freedom to do both things.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“But what’s the message you’re sending to the children?” Richmond pushed.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The female churchgoer replied, “The message is that we honor your business, but you should honor our beliefs.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You’ll take our money, but you won’t celebrate who we are?”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">You</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> can celebrate who you are, but we don’t have to,” Steadman answered before the video ends.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Following the incident, Richmond </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CteBXmxOX9M/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">accused</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> the church of homophobia on the school’s official Instagram, saying the “real reason I’m being booted has become clear.” After the Sunday protest, he </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtoyaQhOR8s/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">posted</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> that the protest was “only the beginning of the battle against intolerance and injustice,” saying the town needed to “face the uncomfortable truth about the underlying bigotry in the heart of this town.”</span></p>
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<p>The school owner later said that the school would close immediately because he and the children’s parents “don’t feel safe” continuing to run the school in the church building, according to the <a href="https://marbleheadcurrent.org/2023/06/18/peaceful-protest-outside-grace-community-church-after-pride-flag-controversy/?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marblehead Current</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He also emailed Pastor David Brame and the church elders about the incident and the church’s March request that the school leave the property in three months. The church elders replied to Richmond’s email, making no mention of the incident. According to The Marblehead Current, the church denied trying to kick the school out, and the church knew the couple was gay before approving their lease.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We wanted more flexibility and access to the space we are currently leasing to you,” the reply said. “Once you shared that this step would likely put you and your partner out of a job, and that the families who had just signed up for the ‘23-’24 school year had little time to find substitute day care, we reconsidered and extended your lease, not wanting to cause harm to your business and hardship for your enrolled families.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Marblehead Pride Committee also decried the vandalism. However, Peyton Pugmire, a member of the MPC, condemned the church, saying, “For a church or any organization in our small town to act in that way … in a town where kindness rules the day, is surprising. For this church to choose to discriminate and behave so hatefully is shocking.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite his ongoing dispute with Grace Community Church, Richmond condemned the vandalism in a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtkC_6OOcUq/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on the preschool’s Instagram page. He told The Salem News he reported the vandalism to Marblehead police when he arrived at the church Friday morning.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The controversy engaged many local LGBTQ activists and faith leaders and came amid a broader national conversation surrounding religious liberty and LGBTQ ideology. Recently, LGBTQ activists have clashed with both </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-muslim-and-christian-parents-show-up-in-force-to-protest-lgbt-books-at-maryland-school-board" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Christians</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/all-muslim-city-council-bans-lgbt-pride-flag-from-city-property" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Muslims</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. Additionally, controversy erupted when middle schoolers </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/middle-schoolers-accused-of-homophobia-after-chanting-usa-tearing-down-pride-decorations" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="font-weight: 400;">protested</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> their Massachusetts school’s Pride Month celebration in nearby Burlington, Massachusetts.</span></p>

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Church Protested, Vandalized With LGBTQ Graffiti After Evicting Preschool That Hung Pride Flags