August 23, 2016
After Lesbian Couple's Home is Egged, Mass. Suburb Shows Support With Pride Flags
READ TIME: 1 MIN.
A lesbian couple who live in Natick. Mass., about 10-miles west of Boston, was devastated after the Pulse gay nightclub massacre in June. To show solidarity for the LGBT community and those impacted by the Orlando attack, Lauri and Cari Ryding put up a Pride flag on their home.
After going away on vacation the women, who had lived in the neighborhood for 23 years, returned home to find their flag stolen and their house had been egged.
"It really is hard to feel someone hates you," Cari told Boston's ABC-affiliate station WCVB.
The Boston Globe reports neighbors of the couple came together to show support for the women. Children riding bikes delivered Pride flags to several houses in the area on Sunday; about 40 in total.
The flags transformed the neighborhood "into a brilliantly colored declaration of pride and solidarity, displayed on picket fences, garages, doorways, and decks," the Globe wrote.
"It just happened so quickly - the whole neighborhood said, 'Get me a flag. Get me a flag. Get me a flag,' " Penni Rochwerger, a neighbor of the Rydings, told the Globe. "If we can stop whatever hate is out there, I think that's really important."
WCVB notes about two-thirds of the neighbored have donned the Pride flags.
Watch WCVB's report about the Rydings below.
