After the fear and disbelief, Walsh said, she felt a broader realization.
“It was a little eye opening. There’s this atmosphere where people feel emboldened, and like this is OK,” said Walsh, who identifies as gay.
Despite Massachusetts’ reputation as deeply blue, the vandalism at Russ and Mimi’s represents one of seven instances so far this year of Pride flag symbols being targeted in the state, according to GLAAD. Most of this year’s incidents happened in June, which is LGBTQ Pride month, and two involved arson, with flags being set on fire, GLAAD data show.
The incidents are part of an unmistakable national trend, according to researchers of anti-LGBTQ extremism. Targeted attacks against LGBTQ Pride symbols have risen in recent years, and point to a paradox the gay and transgender communities face, according to GLAAD. As the country’s LGBTQ population grows, the communities’ symbols have become more common and visible, which in turn leaves them vulnerable to attack.
“It’s a crime of opportunism,” said Sarah Moore, senior manager of news and research at GLAAD.
At Russ and Mimi’s, community members rallied to support Walsh after the incident, with many sending messages on Facebook condemning what happened and offering to pay for a new flag. The original, which had been flying since the start of June, was discovered in a nearby alley on the next day.
That day, Oct. 5, during the Roslindale Day Parade, Councilman Enrique Pepén and Mayor Michelle Wu met with Walsh to show their support, the local blog Universal Hub reported.
“Acts like this don’t represent who we are,” Pepén told the Globe. “We stand with Russ and Mimi, and with our LGBTQ+ neighbors, today and every day.”
Still, the incident — and others targeting flags, painted crosswalks, and banners — is part of an overall trend, Moore said. GLAAD recorded a slight decrease in attacks on Pride symbols from 2024 to 2025, but researchers believe the drop could be due to more LGBTQ people being afraid to display flags in the first place, Moore said.
There’s been a greater prevalence in recent years of Pride flags being targeted in blue bubbles, according to GLAAD. Where liberal communities border more conservative ones, LGBTQ-friendly establishments or residences that display rainbow Pride flags can become easy targets for vandals who are more hostile toward gay and transgender people, said Moore,
“This can really happen anywhere, and it’s often an expression of the broader community’s debate over LGBTQ rights and the existence of trans people,” Moore said.
In Boston this July, someone set fire to a Pride flag hanging outside a West Roxbury salon, then placed the damaged flag on a bench. The month before, two Pride flags displayed at a Jamaica Plain home were torn down. In July 2024, two men tried to set Pride flags on fire outside a private home — also in Roslindale.
“There have been cases where these attacks over the symbols will escalate into some really scary acts of harm against both the property and potentially the lives of the people,” Moore said.
A police detective was assigned to investigate the incident at Perfect 10 salon in West Roxbury, but they have not shared any updates with owner Kanessa Alexander, she said on Friday.
“They said things like this are pretty tough to look into,” Alexander said.
In most cases, attacks on Pride flags lead to misdemeanor charges, if a suspect is apprehended at all, Moore said.
So far this year, California has seen the greatest total number of attacks on Pride flags, and in August 2023, a shop owner in Cedar Glen, Calif., was shot and killed in front of her business over a dispute tied to the storefront’s flag.
After California, Ohio has had the most instances of Pride flag vandalism this year, with Pennsylvania and Massachusetts tying for third, GLAAD data show.
The Russ and Mimi’s Pride flag included rainbow colors and stripes representing the transgender community, people of color, and the lives of people who died during the HIV/AIDS crisis. The immediately popular design debuted in 2018 and is known in the LGBTQ community as the Progress Pride Flag.
“So they offended a lot of people,” said Walsh, nodding to the different identities the flag includes.
The pole’s damage looks like someone would have had to make a concerted physical effort to knock it down, possibly with a baseball bat, Walsh said. When she discovered it on the morning of Oct. 4, the metal brackets and anchors had been torn out of the wall, Walsh said.
Walsh said she planned to report the incident to police on Friday, Oct. 10, and that staff from the nearby restaurant JJ Brannelly’s offered to reinstall the flag pole next week.
Nearby businesses don’t have any security cameras that could provide footage of what happened, Walsh said. It’s possible that drunk teenagers or someone with mental health problems could have knocked the flag down without intending to send a hateful message, she said.
Regardless, other LGBTQ owners of new businesses in Roslindale are speaking up in support of what the Pride flag represents.
Midnight Morning, a restaurant a couple of doors down, opened in July 2023 and identifies on Google Maps as LGBTQ-owned and LGBTQ-friendly. Owner Virginia Brown, who also opens up her business early in the morning, was among the first people Walsh texted after she saw the flag pole on the ground.
“I love that she put that up there, and I’m proud of it,” Brown, 43, said. “I’m glad it’s back up. I want everyone to feel like they’re supposed to be there.”
Ana Crowley, an owner-worker at nearby bookstore co-op Rozzie Bound, which opened at its South Street location in 2023, said that despite the flag being attacked, the positive response has been overwhelming.
“The neighborhood has really rallied in support of Russ and Mimi’s and everyone wants them to feel like they’re not targeted in any way,” Crowley said.
Claire Thornton can be reached at claire.thornton@globe.com. Follow Claire on X @claire_thornto.
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