More than 40 houses in a Massachusetts neighborhood are now flying rainbow flags in solidarity with a lesbian couple whose home was vandalized.
According to the Boston Globe, Cari and Lauri Ryding have lived together on Strawberry Hill Road in Natick, Massachusetts for more than four years. After the terror attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June, the Rydings ordered a pride flag from the Rainbow Peace Flag Project, an organization that gives the flags away for free to Natick residents.
But when the Rydings recently returned home from a vacation, they found that their flag had been stolen and their front porch had been egged.
“It really sent us reeling,” Cari told the Globe.
But on Sunday, the neighborhood struck back.
“We said, ‘Why don’t we all have the flags? They can’t take them from all of us,’” Dennis Gaughan told the Globe.
Dennis and his wife Maura worked with the Rainbow Peace Flag project, and organized the delivery of flags to every house in the neighborhood. On Sunday, children rode through the neighborhood on their bikes and delivered flags to dozens of houses.
After a gay couple in Natick was targeted by vandalism, the neighborhood united behind them: https://t.co/sGMs75Ndpr pic.twitter.com/beqA62vW1v
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) August 23, 2016
“One person’s act of fear and maliciousness created such a powerful statement of love,” Lauri Ryding told the Globe. “We are very blessed, very fortunate.”
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.
