The Foothills Pride Society says numerous hate crimes have targeted High River’s LGBTQ2S+ community since the spring.
In May, High River couple Paula and Douglas Elliott, who are allies of the LGBTQ2S+ community, had a small, discreet pride flag taken during a 1 a.m. incident.
“I was in bed but I heard a screen door open and somebody tried to open our front door,” said Paula Elliott, adding a friend staying over that night saw a couple people running away with the pride flag.
The couple responded by buying a bigger flag and putting it on their roof.
In June, pride society members and volunteers painted a rainbow crosswalk in High River’s downtown, but it was vandalized within five hours by drivers burning it out.
On Sept. 26, the Elliotts’ front window was smashed.
“A couple weeks after that, a family who has over the years had about 10 pride flags taken down, somebody threw something at their front bay window,” said Elliott, adding the window didn’t break.
The next evening, a neighbour of that family, who has pride flags in the yard, had the rear window and lights of a car smashed. The incident was caught on camera.
Another house in the area with a pride flag has been egged, said Elliott.
“Everyone has had to up their security, cameras and whatnot,” said the High River resident, adding she refuses to be cowered into taking down her pride flag.
These incidents are hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ2S+ community, said Elliott.
“It’s really easy for us to connect the dots and come to the very reasonable conclusion that these are hate crimes directed at anybody who has pride paraphernalia,” she said.
Halle Minkler, Foothills Pride Society’s co-chair, said the escalation of the situation in a short amount of time is a huge safety concern.
“High River should be a safe place for everyone, and it’s not acceptable that people are trying to push their own community members out of High River by making them fearful for their safety,” she said.
Elliott said she hasn’t noticed a single RCMP patrol car in the two weeks she’s had security cameras in place. Elliott, who talked to the High River RCMP detachment commander Thursday, said police want to discuss possible solutions with the pride society.
Elliott wants the RCMP, and High River’s mayor and council, to take a firm stance and state that hatred against the LGBTQ2S+ community will not be tolerated in the southern Alberta town of roughly 15,000 residents.
“I want our leaders to step up and be a little bit more accountable,” she said.
High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass said the vast majority of residents support the LGBTQ2S+ community and just want to live their own lives.
“However, with every social issue, there are some that cannot their anger and feel it is OK to run around breaking windows and damaging property,” said Snodgrass. “This is 100 per cent unacceptable, and the RCMP will find those responsible.”