FAIRHAVEN – Residents would be forgiven for thinking about his Groundhog Day, as once again the rainbow pride flags placed outside Fairhaven Town Hall have disappeared.
After 100 residents’ pride flags placed around the lawn on Wednesday night were removed by a city worker early Thursday morning, the same thing happened over the weekend.
Brian Thomas of the WBSM reported that around 15 people placed 200 pride flags on the lawn outside Fairhaven Town Hall on Saturday evening, ahead of a pride rally on Sunday morning.
“It’s not political,” resident Marianne Baptista, one of the people who planted the pride flags on Saturday, told Thomas. “It’s about including everyone.”
According to Thomas, during the planting of the flag, a Fairhaven police officer approached Baptista to admit that the department was aware of the event and said police would be patrolling the area to prevent vandalism.
But Thomas and others said the rainbow flags were nowhere to be found at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday when the pride rally began.
While attendees said they had a great time at the Sunday morning rally, the two flag removal was a bit of an embarrassment for some.
“It’s easy to go to (Provincetown), any big city or even (New Bedford) for pride,” Crystal Cruz told WBSM News via text. “It’s a much more difficult and burdensome experience to show up in a small community filled with hate and stay strong outside the government building that systematically perpetuates oppression by creating, and then subsequently enforcing, a anti-LGBTQIA + legislation by the meanest unnecessary means. “
It is not known who removed the flags this time around.
Baptista said: “Maybe we will plan (a rally) again next year.”
