City officials respond to vandalized Pride banner in Winston-Salem

A banner celebrating Pride month was vandalized in Winston-Salem, which city officials call a hate crime. The banner was discovered cut in half early Friday morning. Mayor Allen Joines said in a statement that the city reaffirms its support of Pride Winston-Salem. 

“I view this act as an apparent hate crime. I want to state in the strongest terms that the city of Winston-Salem and the city council fully support Pride Winston-Salem, their upcoming events, and Pride Month. The city is acting swiftly to repair the banner in the interim and replace it with a new banner as soon as possible,” said Joines.

The city’s director of human relations, diversity, equity, and inclusion, Wanda Allen-Abraha, says that a replacement banner is scheduled to be installed on Monday.  

“We want to assure the members of the LGBTQIA+ community that we empathize with and are sensitive to their concerns about such incidents,” Allen-Abraha said. “I have asked Police Chief William Penn to investigate this as a potential hate crime.”