Grace Episcopal Church has flown a “We Choose Love” flag with a rainbow design throughout the school year. It’s been torn down four times, said Rev. Ellis Tucker “Tuck” Bowerfind, the church’s rector.

The Phi saw one occurrence of the vandalism on March 21 around midnight when a group of four people in Virginia Military Institute uniforms dragged the flag across the church’s garden.

The church began displaying the flag during the COVID-19 pandemic to let people know the church was open, and that everyone was welcome to pray, Bowerfind said. Since then, the church has been displaying several flags. However, only the current flag has been torn down.

Stephen Post’s TED Talk titled “It’s Good to be Good” influenced the church’s decision to display the “We Choose Love” flag, Bowerfind said. In the speech, Post discusses the effect of altruistic behavior on people’s perceived happiness.

“It’s important for us to be clear that we’re of those Americans and those Christians that are open and welcoming to all kinds of people, and they can participate any way they want,” Bowerfind said.

The rainbow on the edge of the flag demonstrates that the church welcomes and includes everyone regardless of how they express their sexual orientation and gender identity, Bowerfind said.

“We want to make that a signal for anybody who’s looking for a community,” he said.

It is unclear who took down the flag or what their motivation was, Bowerfind said. However, action against LGBTQ+ safe spaces has been seen elsewhere in Lexington. In November 2024, someone vandalized the Red House, a LGBTQ+ resource center on Washington and Lee

University’s campus, according to previous reporting by the Phi.

We are not interested in punishment, but we are interested in dialogue,” Bowerfind said. “It’s not so much about trying to convince them, but just to try to understand each other a little bit and then we can see what happens next.”