This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Mayfield faces up to two years in prison.Ĭopyright 2016 The Associated Press. "His actions were too purposeful to not be targeting this couple and that item," Alagaban said. The prosecutor also pointed out all the steps Mayfield took to steal the rainbow flag. He pointed out that Mayfield passed three or four neighbors' homes - and all the flags hanging on their homes. Prosecutor John Alagaban was more than a bit skeptical. Mayfield had testified that he thought the flag was a spring ornament, not a gay pride flag, and that he had no idea that the his neighbors were gay. "Just because the victims are gay doesn't make it a hate crime," Davis has said. James Martin Davis, who is Mayfield's attorney, argued the act was a drunken prank and not a hate crime. Mayfield was accused of taking the flag from the porch of a lesbian couple who lived near him, setting it on fire and waving it in the middle of the street in March 2015. Prosecutors said that the charge was prosecuted as a felony, not a misdemeanor, because the incident was investigated as a hate crime. The Omaha World-Herald ( ) reports that 24-year-old Cameron Mayfield was found guilty Wednesday of arson. (AP) - An Omaha man accused of stealing a gay pride rainbow flag and burning it has been found guilty. – Egan Millard is an assistant editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service.OMAHA, Neb. LGBTQ Pride Month, which celebrates the community, culture and liberation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning people, is marked each June by parades and festivals around the U.S., and has long been celebrated by The Episcopal Church and individual congregations. Though the number of reported anti-LGBTQ incidents overall has remained relatively steady in recent years, the number of incidents specifically targeting transgender and gender-nonconforming people doubled from 2014 to 2019. God loves me.’ There are people that find that difficult to hear.”Īccording to the most recent statistics compiled by the FBI, anti-LGBTQ hate crimes made up 19% of all reported hate crime incidents in the United States in 2019. “We’re trying to have a conversation with each other in public around our lives as gay people and say, ‘God created everybody. “It felt nice to be among friendly, affirming people this morning,” Woodward said. Though the rainbow flag in front of his church was gone, he wore a rainbow cape as he walked his dog, River Song, in the Ru Paws Drag Race dog parade. Adolfo Martinez, 30, of Ames, last month was found guilty of a hate crime a class 'D' felony third-degree harassment and reckless use of fire.
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An Ames man was sentenced Wednesday to about 16 years in prison after he set fire to a church LGBTQ flag in June. Christ calls us to show love and respect to our neighbors.”įar from being deterred, Woodward, who is gay, decided to step up his Pride celebration. The Des Moines Register has confirmed the story.
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I realize that not all are accepting of our LGBTQ neighbors, but we should all be united in condemning this act. 15 years for burning a gay pride flagThe penalty DOES NOT fit the crime Posted on by Natan Lawrence Here is another example a justice run amok by leftist, amoral God-haters including this particular so-called Christian church.
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“The Pride flag is a symbol of love, of struggle, of sacrifice, by generations of our brothers and sisters. “While the monetary value of the flag is minimal, the symbolism of the act is immense,” she wrote. Traquair “condemn this act of hatred” and asked her diocese to pray for the person who did it. In an email to her diocese, Northern California Bishop Megan Traquair said the Sacramento Police Department is investigating. “It made me sad this morning to see that somebody wanted to take down what we think was a sign of love and burn it, but love isn’t that easily defeated,” Woodward told The Bee, his voice breaking with emotion.