LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — When Jarrod Johnson walked out his front door on Valentine’s Day morning, the first thing he said he saw wasn’t a message of love. The flagpole carrying the pride flag, a symbol of the community he and his husband are part of, was snapped in two.
Johnson and Alex Hudson have been together for about five years. For many of those years, they’ve hung a rainbow pride flag above their front door. But twice in the past week, they said they’ve found it missing or destroyed.
“When I went upstairs and told him that it happened again, he (Hudson) didn’t believe me,” Johnson said. “He said, ‘This feels, this feels targeted.’”
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Johnson said the flagpole was broken less than 12 hours after he was able to replace the flag that was broken and torn a week ago.
“I don’t want to believe that flag does anything for anyone except show them that they care that someone cares for them,” Johnson said. “There’s a color on that flag for everybody. Gay, straight, whatever.”