La Tanya St. Jacques and his partner are trying to understand why someone, who was caught with a porch surveillance camera, shot down a 2SLGBTQ rainbow flag from his home in the West End during Pride Month.
“A lot of people say we don’t need Pride [month], they have rights now, they don’t need it, “said Tanya, who is not bisexual and not bisexual.” There’s still a bit of hatred. That’s why we still need Pride. “
Tanya said they and her daughter were home Thursday around 11:30 a.m. when someone climbed the stairs to her house.
They heard a loud sound. By the time Tanya reached the door and looked outside, the flag was gone and there was no sign of anyone in the area.
Then, they checked the surveillance camera of his home that overlooked the front stairs. The video shows what appears to be a man in light pants, a dark T-shirt, sunglasses and a baseball cap throwing the flag and taking it away.
“It was quick, but the violence in action was like, hey, this guy has problems,” said Tanya, who is a civilian employed by the Department of National Defense. “He was incredulous, like this wasn’t happening right now. He was angry.”
TARGET | The security camera shows the flag of Pride torn down:
The security camera shows the flag of Pride torn down
Pictures of a camera on the front porch of the West End house on Tanya St. Jacques and his partner live show an unknown person tearing down a rainbow flag 2SLGBTQ on Thursday.
They said that in addition to being angry, they were also sad about their 13-year-old daughter.
“She started to feel uncomfortable and scared because she’s also part of the LGBTQ community,” Tanya said.
“We had a great time at [Pride] he paraded and commented on how everyone seemed so happy and everyone was so accepted, and now that happens. “
Tanya St. Jacques says his Rainbow of Pride flag was torn down Thursday from the porch of his West End home. They said surveillance footage of a camera on his porch captured the incident and was sent to Winnipeg police. (Submitted by Tanya St-Jacques)
Tanya’s husband, Jeremie St. Jacques, ran home from work when he heard the news.
“There’s no good reason for anyone to do that,” he said. “There’s no good reason.”
Jeremie said he reported the incident to the non-emergency department of the Winnipeg Police Service, which ordered him to send surveillance footage.
A Winnipeg police spokesman confirmed that they had received a report that matched what happened to the St. Jacques.
West End pastor and resident Jamie Arpin-Ricci says what happened at St. Jacques is similar to what happened to him during Pride Month last year.
On the afternoon of June 18, he says he was robbed of the rainbow flag that he and his wife had on the porch.
“Those who saw it happen informed me that the man was shouting insults at our house while he violently knocked her down,” Arpin-Ricci, a father of two, said in an email. “He did it in a space where our kids often play. Our neighbor also knocked down the flag the night before.”
He became uneasy after the 2021 incident, but decided not to leave it unanswered.
“In the end, we decided to resist hatred and fear with a more permanent solution: we painted our front door with the colors of the rainbow of Pride,” he said.
Jamie Arpin-Ricci and his family painted their fence with rainbow colors last year after a Pride flag was stolen from their home. (Jamie Arpin-Ricci)
Arpin-Ricci runs an Anabaptist and Franciscan West End church called Little Flowers Community.
Arpin-Ricci, a former CBC Manitoba Future 40 Award winner, is bisexual and offers pastoral support to 2SLGBTQ Christians.
He faced criticism from some members of the Christian community when he began to talk openly about his identity a few years ago.
He is also an acquaintance of La Tanya. The couple met in queer spaces online when Tanya was thinking of moving to the neighborhood and have been in contact ever since.
“It is discouraging for this to happen again in the West End, as there is a lot of support from the majority of the community,” he said. “However, it seems that those who do are usually getting away with it, so they are brave.”
Tanya says they believe the response to hatred is more education for the general public, although they also feel supported.
When Tanya posted the incident on social media on Thursday, she said several supporters responded with plans to send a series of new rainbow flags to hang on her property.
“So I’m going to bomb the house with Pride,” they said.