Langley Township removes woman’s pride flag from her home after neighbour complains

LANGLEY (NEWS 1130) — An Aldergrove woman is shocked and outraged after she says a rainbow flag she hung on her property was taken down by the Township of Langley.

Lisa Ebenal says she first hung the flag last week, but it was promptly ripped down and stolen by an unknown person.

An Aldergrove woman is outraged after she says staff from the Township of Langley removed the Pride flag from her property after a neighbour complained. She first hung a flag last week, but that one was stolen. @NEWS1130 pic.twitter.com/MzaFelVPOs

— Lauren Boothby (@laurby) June 16, 2019

When she hung a new flag on a sign on her property, it was also taken down again, but this time by staff from the Township, something she says is shocking and inappropriate.

“I put another one up, same flag, same place this last Thursday, and Friday afternoon between 12 and 1 p.m., I was told it was missing again, that a Township of Langley vehicle was seen right at that time in front of my house,” she says. “It’s clearly in my yard, and it’s clearly part of my property, so there’s no way they could mistake that for public property.”

According to Ebenal, a neighbour complained to the Township and staff had it removed. She wasn’t told who made the complaint or what the specifics of the complaint were.

“For some reason, they acted on that, the Township of Langley sent somebody out right away and took the whole thing down. They didn’t try to contact me, there was somebody home here, they didn’t knock on the door, and it is obvious that it was in my yard, and they took it down,” she says. “I was shocked when I found out what they actually did, and then when I found out that a neighbour complained that it was inappropriate and (the Township) acted on that, I was absolutely appalled”

Another neighbour called the Township on her behalf, and asked for it to be returned. A staff member brought the flag back and apologized.

“When I asked him why did they take it down, what was the complaint? He said it was anonymous and I still don’t know what the complaint was. I said well there was no reason to take it down, and he said ‘sorry it was a mistake,'” she says.

Ebenal says she is angry and shocked the flag was taken down during Pride month when many cities across the country are raising the flag to support LGBTQ rights.

To her the flag represents a struggle for gay rights, but she says she sees it as something even bigger than that.

“Its just shocking that in this day and age that somebody would take that stance against the Pride flag which stands for more than just the gay pride movement. To me, it’s a sign of Canada and the country I live in and all the people getting a long together and everyone having equal rights,” she says. “It also means that, the whole fight and struggle that the gay community has gone through to get to this point, and then to have the flag ripped down, and to have it ripped down by the city it was so insulting and so unbelievable.”

She’s since put the flag back up, and is considering making it a permanent fixture in her home.