After a Delight flag was torched at a Norwich elementary college, a neighborhood LGBTQ advocate on Friday referred to as the act a daunting show of violence, whereas the area’s prime schooling official denounced it as “abhorrent.”
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After a Delight flag was torched at a Norwich elementary college, a neighborhood LGBTQ advocate on Friday referred to as the act a daunting show of violence, whereas the area’s prime schooling official denounced it as “abhorrent.”
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“It’s fairly scary,” stated Tami Murray, president of the Oxford County Delight Committee. “It creates plenty of nervousness. It’s one factor to take a flag down, but it surely’s one other factor to burn it. Fireplace is a really clear assertion of violence and destruction.”
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The Delight flag was raised in any respect Thames Valley District college board websites on Could 16 to mark the Worldwide Day Towards Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
Ontario Provincial Police say two folks sporting hoodies eliminated the flag from a pole at Emily Stowe public college on Jerdon Road round 11:35 p.m on Could 16 and set it on hearth.
“Oxford OPP treats mischief investigations with the utmost seriousness,” stated spokesperson Const. Randi Crawford.
Thames Valley District college board schooling director Invoice Tucker condemned it as an assault that “flies within the face of anti-hate.”
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“We stand strongly beside all of our group members no matter their id,” he stated.
A rainbow Delight flag was flying outdoors the college on Friday.
Norwich, a rural city of about 11,000 folks positioned 25 kilometres south of Woodstock, has a troubled historical past in relation to LGBTQ+ inclusion. In 2022 and 2023, police investigated a number of thefts of Delight flags locally.
In 2023, native politicians sparked outrage after voting to ban the flying of non-government flags on municipal property. Critics noticed this as a veiled strategy to ban Delight flags within the city, the place a big Christian church performs an influential position. Politicians overturned the ban in early 2024.
Murray on Friday stated that no harm was executed to flags final yr.
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Norwich residents with whom The Free Press spoke Friday have been unaware of the flag burning occasion or didn’t wish to remark on account of potential repercussions from different group members.
One girl, who spoke on the situation on anonymity, stated she had “been warned in regards to the political local weather” locally earlier than transferring there two years in the past.
“Faith is a giant deal and other people take it critically,” she stated.
One other resident, who stated she had lived in Norwich for 49 years, used the phrase “unhappy” to explain the incident.
“It didn’t was once like this,” she stated.
Delight flags will quickly be raised throughout Oxford County in assist of Delight Month.
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