Tear Down and Destruction Of Rainbow Flag At Hjallakirkja

A rainbow flag that was flying outside of Hjallakirkja Church was torn down and destroyed Saturday night, reports RÚV.

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Hjallakirkja’s pastor, Sunna Dóra Möller, arrived to work and saw that the rainbow flag had been torn down and thrown in a nearby bush. The flag’s brackets had been ripped off so it could not be put back up. Sunna believes it was a deliberate act and reported the incident to the police.

“I was very offended. I felt very uncomfortable,” says Sunna. “We’ve had the flag flying proudly outside the church since the beginning of the queer movement.”

Sunna says she is going to buy and hung up a new flag.

“In my mind it’s a hate crime. You can’t look at it differently. We’ve already seen this happen, it’s not a coincidence,” says Sunna. “We need to talk about this growing prejudice. I think we can all feel it, especially in the run-up to International Women’s Day, that it feels like the conversation is shifting. We need to be vigilant, and the church is involved in that.”

For more on how Icelanders are fighting the growing hate against queer people in their country, read our latest cover story.