For the past several years, Renee Zollinger has signed her neighbors up each spring to lease pride flags from Project Rainbow.
Her son founded the nonprofit, and Zollinger said the flags she and her neighbors choose to display from about the end of each May through early June are a symbol of acceptance — both to those who live on her block near 2100 East and Roosevelt Avenue, and to those who visit.
This year, more than 20 neighbors joined Zollinger, hanging a flag in each of their front yards during Pride Week. When she went to sleep June 8, the flags were still flying. But when she awoke the next morning, they were all gone.
Zollinger reported the theft to Salt Lake City police and so far, investigators have not identified the person or people responsible. It is one of at least three pride flag-theft reports Salt Lake City police received last week, Sgt. Mark Wian said.
Another pride flag theft was reported June 8 near the area of 1900 East Stratford Avenue, Wian said. The third theft was reported on June 9 near 1400 East Harrison Avenue.
The thefts don’t scare Zollinger. She said she feels sorry for whoever did it — “that somebody has such a small sad life” — and vowed to put out even more flags next year.
“We’ll have two flags a piece instead of one. I mean, we’re staying,” Zollinger said. “The idea of loving our community is staying.”
More thefts reported in Salt Lake Valley suburbs
South Jordan police have received at least nine reports of pride flags stolen, Sgt. Eric Anderson said Tuesday, including multiple reports in the Daybreak neighborhood.
The agency posted footage on social media June 8 showing someone dressed in a black shirt and shorts with a white face-covering take a pride flag hanging near someone’s porch.
Unified police have also investigated pride flag thefts, including during a traffic stop on June 7, when officers pulled over a teenager carrying more than 20 apparently stolen flags in a truck bed, Sgt. Melody Cutler said.
The flags were taken from around Millcreek and Holladay, Cutler said. She added that people stealing pride flags isn’t uncommon, just as it’s not uncommon for campaign signs to be stolen. Wian and Anderson agreed, noting that pride flags are stolen every year.
Project Rainbow executive director Jacey Thornton told The Salt Lake Tribune that the organization typically expects about 10-20% of their flags to go missing (or be stolen) any given year. The group hasn’t yet tallied this year’s losses, but Thornton said she expects they have lost more than normal.
The nonprofit also offers flags for lease during Transgender Day of Visibility and Transgender Day of Remembrance, and Thorton said they are not deterred by the apparent uptick in thefts.
“The only fear I have is of the Legislature rolling back rights from me and my children and to my neighbors. Not flags that will just eventually decay,” Thorton said. “I mean, they’re just flags, for Christ’s sake. They’re on a PVC pole.”
Reporting flag theft
If the thefts were supposed to cause financial harm, Thornton said it doesn’t cost the mostly volunteer-run group much to display the flags. Those who opt to lease them also pay more than what the flags cost, because some of the money is invested in the group’s community fund to finance grants for LGBTQ+ supportive projects and events. In 2022, for instance, they raised over $70,000 to support more than 20 organizations around the state.
Next year, Thornton said, the group plans to be more prepared with back-up flags, as well as finding other ways to support the LGBTQ+ community.
Wian, with Salt Lake City police, encouraged people to report flag thefts to police. In Salt Lake City, individuals may call 801-799-3000 or file a request on the Police Department’s website.
“It allows us to start an investigation. It gets our detectives to look at any type of surveillance cameras, follow up on any leads, maybe establish if there’s a pattern — it could tie other people to other crimes,” he said. “So it just really helps to have that awareness.”
Wian added that stealing a pride flag could be considered a hate crime, depending on the thief’s motive. In Utah, prosecutors can add an enhancement to a crime — or raise the degree of an offense — if they determine it met the criteria of a hate crime.
An offense is considered a hate crime if a victim is targeted for being a member of a protected class, including for their ancestry, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, national origin, race, religion or sexual orientation, Utah law states.
