A new pride flag flies outside a home in Burlington. Photo by Aidan Quigley/VTDigger
BURLINGTON — City police are investigating the burning of a pride flag in the Old North End this weekend, coinciding with the start of June’s LGBTQ Pride month.
Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo confirmed Monday that police were investigating the possible arson as a hate crime.
The flag was burned outside of a residence on Bright Street, and had been replaced by Monday morning. A leather pride flag is also flown at the house.
Some charred remains of the original pride flag were still visible on the house porch.
Chris Vaccaro, the owner of the burned flag, told VTDigger via email that the burning of the flag “almost set fire to the house.”
LGBTQ Pride is celebrated throughout the month of June, with pride parades across the world. Pride flags outside of a New York city bar were also set on fire over the weekend.
Del Pozo said the department is treating the incident as a hate crime and is looking for video evidence and trying to determine if there are any witnesses.
“If the only thing that is destroyed in an act of arson is a pride flag, which describes the people of a protected class and coincides with the beginning of pride month, it’s clear there could be a hate nexus to this,” del Pozo said. “We’re going to treat it as if there is.”
A neighbor discovered the flag Saturday morning, and police believe the arson took place sometime overnight Friday into Saturday.
The investigation is ongoing, and the department has not received any other reports of similar anti-LGBTQ crimes.
Del Pozo said the department is donating a new flag to Vaccaro as a sign of the department’s support for the LGBTQ community.
“We take these types of things really seriously,” del Pozo said. “We will be there to protect them, and we’re nothing more than a phone call away.”
This story was updated with comments from del Pozo at 12:54 pm. Monday.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington police investigate pride flag burning.