{"id":18516,"date":"2023-06-06T09:44:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T16:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=18516"},"modified":"2023-06-10T09:45:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-10T16:45:14","slug":"rainbow-flags-stolen-in-san-jose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/rainbow-flags-stolen-in-san-jose\/","title":{"rendered":""Homophobia is everywhere": Rainbow flags are stolen in San Jos\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Jana Kadah. San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rainbow flags stolen in San Jose More than 75 rainbow flags have been stolen in Willow Glen as National Pride Month kicks off. This has become a recurring problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Local real estate agent Holly Barr buys and places the flags on Willow Glen\u2019s main street, Lincoln Avenue, annually starting in June. Every year she says they get stolen, but she doesn\u2019t let that stop her efforts to celebrate and support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, or LGBTQ+, communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year it\u2019s a controversy and I just don\u2019t understand it,\u201d Barr told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cBut I\u2019m going to keep doing it because it\u2019s about inclusion, acceptance, love and positivity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Lincoln Avenue, there are buckets at 12 different crosswalks with bright orange flags for residents to use to safely cross the street, with the expectation that people will return them once they\u2019re done. Barr started that initiative on her own 13 years ago, and in June she\u2019s adding rainbow flags to each bucket to mark Pride, a month-long celebration and commemoration of LGBTQ+ communities that began after the Stonewall riots in 1969.<\/span><\/p>\n

Barr said she buys hundreds of rainbow flags each year to prepare for them being stolen. On each flag, Barr writes a different positive word like \u201clove\u201d or \u201cacceptance\u201d to remind people what she believes Pride stands for. She typically has to add new flags to the buckets every couple of days to replace the ones that are taken.<\/span><\/p>\n

"I've seen them vandalized or dumped (around) random parts of the city," Barr said. "But when people steal this, it's not without reason. It sends a clear message."<\/span><\/p>\n

She said some businesses have offered to place the flags on their front doors or directly outside. Barr declined the offers because she wants the flags to be available for people to use at night when the streets are more dangerous. Barr said some residents have donated money and flags to help with the costs of replacing ones that were stolen or destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there are others who say having rainbow flags in public is an attack on children, in addition to other anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. Some of those comments can be seen on Barr\u2019s Facebook page, Willow Glen Charm, where she updates neighbors on hyper-local news like a car accident or success stories from Willow Glen High School.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said some businesses have offered to place the flags on their front doors or directly outside. Barr declined the offers because she wants the flags to be available for people to use at night when the streets are more dangerous. Barr said some residents have donated money and flags to help with the costs of replacing ones that were stolen or destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n

"I don't want to waste police time with this or any other resource to catch who's doing this," Barr said. "It's sad, but I'll continue to replace them."<\/span><\/p>\n

Gabrielle Antolovich, board president of the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center, called Barr a \u201cheroic realtor\u201d and is inspired by her activism. Antolovich said she laughed with joy when she heard Barr was going to keep adding new flags despite them being repeatedly stolen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised that this is happening because homophobic people are so mean-spirited,\u201d Antolovich told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThat\u2019s what homophobia does, it dampens enthusiasm.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Councilman Dev Davis, who represents Willow Glen, said the flags could be stolen out of homophobia or because people want to keep a rainbow flag. However, she condemns the behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI co-sponsor the raising of the Pride flag at City Hall every year,\u201d Davis told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI hope and believe that the vast majority of our community supports Pride Month and our LGBTQ+ neighbors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Antolovich said he will organize more people to donate flags because \u201cwe need more people to fight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHomophobia is everywhere, even in San Jose,\u201d Antolovich said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very sad situation because the people who are against us are also against people of color, immigrants and all kinds of people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read the original story giving <\/span>click here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the\u00a0California State Library.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You may be interested in:<\/strong> Tree of Life: a celebration of life itself<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Jana Kadah. San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. Roban banderas arco\u00edris en San Jos\u00e9, se han robado m\u00e1s de 75 banderas del arco\u00edris en Willow Glen cuando comienza el Mes del Orgullo Nacional. Ello se ha convertido en un problema recurrente. La agente inmobiliaria local Holly Barr compra y coloca las banderas en la calle principal de […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-cover"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18516"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18590,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18516\/revisions\/18590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}