Doylestown business owners remain unwavered after three Pride flags are stolen
For Volume One Hair Salon owner Christy Cavanaugh, the theft of her pride flag only reinforced her belief in flying the flag, and this time she also has backups.
Three Pride flags were stolen from two separate Doylestown businesses during Pride month. But both business owners said these thefts won’t deter their support for the LGBTQ community.
For Volume One Hair Salon owner Christy Cavanaugh, the theft of her Pride flag only reinforced her belief in flying the flag, and this time she also has backups.
Cavanaugh said she quickly replaced the stolen flag and hung it with more rope to prevent it from being stolen again. She also has made sure to have a couple of backup flags just in case.
The salon isn’t the only business in Doylestown to have their Pride flag stolen. Evolution Candy, another business within a three-minute walk from Cavanaugh’s salon, had their flag stolen three times, with two of the thefts on consecutive days in early June.
“The more that people see [the flags], the more they’re going to be accepted and not make a big fuss about them,” Cavanaugh said.
The Central Bucks Regional Police Department confirmed the theft at Cavanaugh’s salon occurred around 1:30 a.m. on June 11. The suspect seen in the salon’s security footage appears to be a man with shoulder-length curly hair.
Tracy Lamb, co-owner of Evolution Candy, keeps her flag up year-round, which she says has prompted mixed reactions from the community, with some people leaving one-star reviews on Google, while others have praised her choice and even donated backup flags.
This was not the first incident over Pride flags for Doylestown, with the Central Bucks School District banning the display of Pride flags in classrooms in January. For both Cavanaugh and Lamb, the district’s ban was just one of many reasons to hang the flag outside their storefronts, hoping they can be a sign of hope and support for the queer community.
Lamb said while the thefts are annoying, they are nothing in comparison to the struggles that kids in the LGBTQ community go through on a daily basis with bullying at school.
Both business owners said they plan to show their support for the queer community by continuing to hang their Pride flags and handing out smaller flags at the Doylestown community Pride Festival, which runs through June 25. Lamb added she hopes the perpetrators “find kindness in their hearts.”
“Equal rights for others does not mean less rights for you,” Lamb said.