However, they know that they are more united than before.As Robert Heinlein predicted long ago, these are the crazy years: The church believes they will never know who burned the flag. The church’s welcoming statement is “Come as you are, you are welcome! Open hearts, open minds, open doors.” “I’ve heard some hurt from people who I know were not in favor of that vote several years ago, but they’re still here and they really felt hurt that people would come on our property - and we’ve had the flag stolen before, but the burning of it especially - so there’s a real violation,” Bechtold said Everyone from the Church was affected, even the folks who voted against the reconciliation (which was only 10%).
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Nine folks came to the planning meeting to brainstorm their organization at the Church with 48 hours’ notice. The Church is in the process of reactivating their PFLAG group and Bechtold thinks it’s because of the incident. The flag has flown consistently since Bechtold was appointed to the Sparta Church in 2019. The church has flown the pride flag in intervals since 2015 when the congregation voted to become a member of the Reconciling Ministries Network. “I’ve lost count of how many we have - we’ve gotten four since last Thursday,” Bechtold said. Sparta Methodist had five flags donated within 48 hours of the incident. The community put together a Pride fund to prepare for the (potential) next time. Like the church goers of Advent, the parishioners of Sparta United unified with the goal of encouraging acceptance and love. This incident was the first time some took witness to a hate crime against the LGBTQ community. “When we talk about God’s love it’s for all and all means all period.” “This congregation has a strong commitment for social justice, but it is a congregation that understands that social justice is a response to our faith,” Bechtold said. The Church has an intention of protecting the diverse communities in and outside their congregation. These crimes disproportionately affect gender nonconforming people and transgender women of color. Together both those numbers made up 16.5% of all hate crimes in 2020. There were 1,051 victims of hate crimes targeted due to their sexual orientation and 236 victims of hate crimes targeted due to their gender identity. Hate crimes against LGBTQ people have increased in the last two years, according to the FBI’s 2020 report. However, they know that they are more united than before.
![burning gay flag burning gay flag](https://www.advocate.com/sites/advocate.com/files/2018/09/19/rainbowflagburn750x422.jpg)
The Church believes they will never know who burned the flag. While they know that a car drove outside the church, unfortunately it was too dark to see who set the flag aflame. The crime is being investigated as a bias incident. The Sparta Police were called the morning after the incident happened. “But it was very obvious that the two women who brought it in, this was very disturbing to them.” “I mean, this is literally five minutes before worship,” Bechtold said. When they went looking, they found it on the lawn burnt to a crisp. Reverend Steven Bechtold was on his way to deliver Sunday mass when two of the church’s newest members - an LGBTQ couple - noticed the flag was down.
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The nylon flag was left a charred, melted mess. On the night of New Years’ Day, someone drove onto the property of Sussex County’s Sparta United Methodist Church and lit their rainbow pride flag on fire.