Rainbow Flag Stolen From Iowa Front Yard is Returned with A Note

 

 

Ryan Silver was at his engineering job last week when he received a text from his neighbor: Did you bring your flag inside?

A few days earlier, Silver had planted a Pride flag in his front yard to recognize the LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month. But Silver had not moved the flag, so he pulled up the video from his Utah home’s camera and saw that the previous day, someone had run across his lawn, grabbed the flag, thrown it into a truck’s cargo bed, and sped away.

Silver was angry, but he figured his best option was to order some new flags and ask for help identifying the thief through Facebook.

The next morning, Silver walked outside to leave for work when he found the flag lying on his lawn. Stuck to it was a blue Post-it note with a short message: “Sorry.”

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The thief, who Silver said appeared to be a teenager, had returned the flag late at night, a day after stealing it. Silver, who admitted he might have pulled a similar prank when he was younger, was elated the thief had a change of heart.

“If it was me, it’d be like, ‘Oh crap, I’m busted. I better hurry up and go get rid of the evidence,’” Silver, 43, told The Washington Post. “It was pretty cool that they could at least be exposed … to reevaluate things you’ve done and try to change course.”

Ryan Silver displays a Pride flag outside of his Utah home. The straight ally flag features black-and-white stripes and a rainbow “A” in the middle. (Ryan Silver)

Silver was raised Mormon and said many of his neighbors in North Ogden, Utah, practice the religion. Growing up, Silver said he was taught that homosexuality is a sin. He made comments he now realizes are homophobic, he said, and in his younger days, he might’ve thought about stealing a Pride flag as a joke, too.

Silver, who no longer practices the Mormon faith, said his support for the LBGTQ+ community has surged since his 13-year-old daughter came out as bisexual about three years ago. In 2021, he posted a Pride flag in his front yard for a week as part of a Utah LGBTQ+ advocacy group’s campaign. Last year, he displayed a Pride flag for most of June, until a woman stole it and drove away in a truck near the end of the month.

Silver said some family members have criticized his flag, and he notices some neighbors looking at him when it’s in his yard.

“It’s weird that it’s just such a small thing, but it for some reason bothers a lot of people,” Silver said. “It just even makes you feel uncomfortable a little bit when you put it up and you’re not used to it because … you can almost feel the push against it.”

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Near the start of this June, Silver planted a straight ally flag, which features black-and-white stripes and a rainbow “A” in the middle, in his front yard near his mailbox. Around 3 p.m. on June 6, someone stole his flag, but he said he didn’t notice until his neighbor messaged him the next afternoon.

At first, Silver was confused, but his home’s camera revealed what happened. After a black truck stopped in front of his house, someone ran out and stole the flag. After work on June 7, Silver posted the surveillance video on Facebook and asked if anyone recognized the truck.

“I’ve made enough of my dumb choices and crazy antics throughout my life so I understand and don’t want to get anybody in trouble,” Silver wrote. “I do want them to be able to learn a life lesson from it, if possible.”

A blue sticky note with the word "Sorry."

The thief returned the Pride flag to Silver's yard with an apology note. (Ryan Silver)

Pride flags are often vandalized, including some in New York, Illinois, and North Carolina this month, so Silver didn’t expect he would see his flag again.

But around 5 a.m. on June 8, Silver saw the flag in his yard. He reviewed video footage to find that around 11 p.m. on June 7, a truck drove by the house again, only this time, the passenger tossed the flag onto Silver’s lawn before running back to the vehicle. Silver deleted the video footage from Facebook and added a new picture of the returned flag.

“I am glad to see people willing to try to better themselves and think about what they’ve done even after the fact,” Silver wrote. “Self-reflection and the willingness to change, if needed, is such a great way to live life.”

The old flag was torn, so on Monday, Silver erected one of the new flags he had ordered. On Tuesday, he added a steel rod to the bottom of the flag, hoping it’ll be too strong to budge.

 

By Kyle Melnick

Kyle Melnick is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix desk, where he covers stories from across the nation and the world. Twitter