On the state-run Russian television show “60 Minutes,” Pyotr Tolstoy of the United Russia party said LeClaire will “burn in hell." Cuomo asked state police to open a hate crime investigation. The fire was quickly extinguished, and local police are investigating it as a hate crime. Suspect arrested in NYC Pride flag-burning outside of gay bar.
In late May 2022, as Pride month approached and Russias months-long invasion of Ukraine continued, a photo of an alleged new version of the LGBTQ Pride flag that includes a blue and yellow stripe representing. The Pride flag was burned just weeks after a Black Lives Matter sign was set on fire in the region.
The widely shared image started out as satire. The announcement called to abolish the Chicago Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and to 'Abolish the Israli Occupation Forces. Moreover, as ironic as it sounds, by being able to burn the flag, the defendant (and other persons like him) is actually honoring the values the flag is meant to protect. The Chicago Dyke March on Saturday posted a flyer for their upcoming event on June 26 featuring a burning police car as well as an activist burning American and Israeli flags. LeClaire’s direct comments on these proposals prompted allies of President Vladimir Putin to speak out. The Ukrainian flag colors are not part of the current version of the Progress Pride flag. When the defendant burned the flag in this case, he was making a political statement, i.e., he did not agree with the policies of the United States government. Two youths have been arrested in connection with the burning of a Pride flag after video of the incident circulated on social media earlier this month. Related: This trans woman sparked Kuwait's biggest LGBTQ movement “In Russia, this situation is compounded by an increase in violence and intimidation of the community by local authorities and other actors, and proposals for constitutional amendments that, if adopted, would lead to an increasingly less inclusive national legal framework,” LeClaire said. And the current government clearly has no intention to die on the hill of criminalising homosexuality. She says they’re living in a hostile environment. The legislator that proposed the bill is no longer in parliament. Ambassador Alison LeClaire, who represents Canada in Russia, criticized the lack of protections for LGBTQ Russians in a video online. The British embassy in Moscow hung their own rainbow flag out front.
People took to social media to voice their concerns.But it wasn’t just American officials in Russia publicly supporting LGBTQ rights. Martinez said he tore down the flag that had been hanging from the United Church of Christ in Ames and burned it because he opposes homosexuality.”Īs already stated, Martinez clearly committed a crime when he stole the rainbow flag from the Ames United Church of Christ and set fire to it outside the Dangerous Curves Gentleman’s Club, but the sentencing of 15 years has sparked a broader debate on whether or not the government overreached, especially in light of the fact that burning the American flag is now considered protected speech. “The sentences are to be served consecutively, Story County court records show,” continued the Associated Press.
For the hate crime of burning an LGBT rainbow pride flag, Martinez received a full 15 years. For the crime of harassment, he received just 30 days. “A man has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for burning an LGBTQ flag that was flying at a church in central Iowa,” reports the Associated Press.įor the crime of reckless use of explosives or fire, 30-year-old Adolfo Martinez received one year in prison. Anybody who steals someone else’s private property and then burns it to smoldering ash deserves some kind of punishment under the law, but do they deserve a full 16 years in prison if this act of vandalism is charged as a “hate crime?” One Iowa man now finds himself at the center of that controversial question.