The Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston (UUCR) was forced again to replace a banner that supports same-sex marriage after it was burned March 5 in what church officials believe was arson.
The banner, which reads “Civil Marriage Is a Civil Right,” was originally posted in front of UUCR facing Wiehle Avenue last October. In February vandals slashed the banner in half, prompting UUCR to produce a replacement. Less than two weeks after the replacement banner went up, vandals targeted it again, burning the banner and starting a small brush fire in a garden area adjacent the banner.
Ana Burgess, a UUCR member, spotted the fire in the late evening of March 5 coming home from a party. “It wasn’t a very big fire, but it was very strange to see a fire in the middle of the night.”
Once firefighters arrived on the scene to put out the brush fire, Burgess discovered damage to the banner. “I noticed the sign had been burned, melted down,” Burgess said.
“We consider the burning of the banner an act of terrorism,” said Hank Blakely, chair of UUCR’s Social Justice Committee, who believes the acts of vandalism were politically motivated. “It derives from the tenor of the conversation that this country is enveloped in on gay rights, gay marriage and gay adoption.”
“Those issues became really important after the [presidential] election and people who opposed those issues were emboldened by the results of the election,” Blakely said.
The banner is now on its third posting, and UUCR remains steadfast to make its message heard. “We are a welcoming congregation,” said the Rev. Sydney Kay Wilde, co-minister of UUCR, “and [the banner] is an expression of our faith, to be there for people who are being discriminated against and to make our voice heard.”
Blakely added, “These acts haven’t been a deterrent, and the plan to have our message heard goes on unabated.”
The UUCR plans to keep the sign up until Easter when it will be hung inside the church and also used periodically as a symbol in marches and other events promoting civil rights and gay rights in particular.