UPDATE (Friday, August 18, 2023): This story has been updated to indicate that temporary signs that were affixed by an anonymous supporter of Trinity Church on Wednesday afternoon disappeared in less than 24 hours.

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Trinity Episcopal Church was the target of a hate crime over the weekend.

Despite vandalism and the theft of two recently installed diversity and inclusion signs, however, the church’s leadership promises the commitment to welcoming all members of the community remains unchanged.

The Reverend Andrea Castner Wyatt arrived at 36 Main Street around 8:30 Sunday morning to find that the two signs recently added to the church’s permanent signage had been stolen. The signs, she is sure, were in place when she left the church around 4 pm the previous afternoon.

The new signs were installed in March. They were added to the church’s large signs, one in front of the 36 Main Street church and the second along its lower driveway at 12 Church Hill Road. The new additions complemented lettering on Trinity’s permanent signs that announced “All Are Welcome.”

The diversity and inclusion signs were approximately 8 by 11 inches each, and featured the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag: a yellow triangle on the left with a purple circle inside it, then arrow shapes of white, hot pink, turquoise, brown and black, pointing toward a red-to-violet stacked rainbow of horizontal lines on the right.

They were, Wyatt told The Newtown Bee in March, “a visible image that highlights this welcome for all people.”

This week Wyatt expanded on the signs and their importance to her parish.

“The signs we put up indicate welcome and inclusion to all people. We did not do so to be overtly political,” she said. “We added that sign as an expression of our theological and spiritual values, that we believe that all people are loved by God, and are in fact made in the image of God, and that tells us something about the nature of God. God is inclusive and diverse, and God represents love, in ways that we cannot even fathom.”

The diversity and inclusion signs were decals mounted onto foam core sign material, protected by sturdy clear plastic, and attached between horizontal slats at each location. During the theft, the slats holding each of the smaller signs were damaged. The upper slat on the Main Street sign was completely snapped, in fact.

“They were permanently affixed in a way that they would have to work to remove them,” Wyatt said early Monday afternoon.

Wyatt contacted Newtown Police Department on Sunday immediately after the discovery of the vandalism and theft, she said.

“The attending officer came rapidly, looked at both signs, and I informed him that it was my opinion that this is a hate crime,” she said the following morning. She was grateful, she said, that a post on the department’s Facebook page concerning the crime used the same term.

“I feel grateful that they are taking it very seriously,” she added.

In a statement issued August 14, Newtown Police Department Lieutenant Scott Smith said he and the department were saddened “that this apparent national trend has found its way to our town.” The department, he confirmed, is investigating the incident as a hate crime.

“The Newtown Police Department remains steadfastly committed to protecting the rights and maintaining the safety of all members of our community,” Smith added.

Wyatt was clearly upset when speaking about the incident on Monday.

“I believe this was a crime that strikes at the heart of the Newtown community. Trinity parish, because of its location, we have been serving the community since 1732, and we offer welcome and hospitality, not just to our Sunday morning Christian congregation, but to all kinds of groups.

“We have a long-standing program for children, we house and settle refugees, we feed the hungry, we offer concerts, we offer space for community vigils, so we offer welcome and inclusion to all people.

“It does not matter their skin color, it does not matter who they love, it does not matter if they have a disability,” she said.

Despite the theft, Wyatt said she did not allow Sunday’s worship service to be overshadowed.

Minutes after the unfortunate discovery and then Wyatt’s filing a police report, “we welcomed a huge and beautiful family for the sacrament of Baptism,” the pastor said. “Then we invited people, after the worship service, to a meeting to plan for ways that we can offer hospitality during the Labor Day Parade, because that’s what we do: We open our doors for all kinds of people.

“While we were saddened by this act of violence,” she added, “it in no way diminished our outreach. It will increase and amplify our commitment to service our community.”

Further, among the first responses by Trinity’s members after learning of the theft on Sunday was “to pray for the perpetrators, that their hearts might be transformed away from hatred into love of neighbor,” Wyatt said.

Trinity will have “internal conversations,” she said, “but of course the signs will be replaced.”

A National Trend

Unfortunately, theft and/or vandalism aimed at different groups is not new in Newtown. Pride and other flags and Black Lives Matter signs posted on private properties have reportedly been stolen or vandalized for years.

The town’s boards and commissions were not immune to “Zoom bombing” during the COVID-19 pandemic, when hackers would gain access to meetings and then hurl racial slurs and other derogatory insults toward hosts and other attendees.

Among the most public incident of a hate crime in recent years was the vandalism at Congregation Adath Israel four years ago this month. Sometime during the overnight of August 23-24, 2019, anti-Semitic graffiti was spray painted onto the front and side walls of the Huntingtown Road synagogue.

In March, the Associated Press reported that the number of hate crimes in this country jumped in 2021, continuing an alarming rise, according to new FBI data. A nearly 12 percent increase was the highest level in decades, according to The Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino Director Brian Levin.

“We are in a unique and disturbing era where hate crimes overall stay elevated for longer punctuated by broken records,” Levin added.

Most of the victims — 64.5 percent — were targeted due to their race, ethnicity or ancestry. Another 16 percent were targeted over their sexual orientation, and 14 percent of cases involved religious bias, according to the FBI report.

Intimidation and assault made up the largest portion of cases, and 18 murders were also reported to be hate crimes.

Half of the religion cases targeted Jewish people, a finding that comes amid rising anti-Semitism, said Jill Garvey, chief of staff at the Western States Center.

The March report also underscores the need for better record-keeping.

“We’re still not getting enough data to know what the extent of the problem is,” Garvey said.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said the Justice Department is committed to every tool and resource at its disposal to combat bias-motivated violence in all its forms.

“Hate crimes and the devastation they cause communities have no place in this country,” she added.

In Newtown, Wyatt hopes to hear similar responses to what happened last weekend.

“The Trinity Church would love to hear from the people of Newtown that we reject acts of hate in our community,” she said. “And we would love to hear from leaders of Newtown that we will not permit hate in our public discourse.”

At least one person has made their voice heard. On Wednesday afternoon, a temporary sign appeared on Main Street-facing Trinity Church sign. Three pieces of copy paper were printed, laminated, and taped to the permanent sign.

The upper panel was a printout of a Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag, replicating the one stolen over the weekend. The second panel featured a rainbow heart and a message: “I’m sorry your flag was vandalized. I always liked pulling up to the flagpole and seeing it. I hope you are able to replace it because it is important to show that everyone is welcome. Newtown is lucky to have this church as an example. Thank you for making a difference!”

The third panel on the makeshift sign said Love Is Stronger Than Hate.

Unfortunately, those signs didn't make it long. During the Wednesday-Thursday overnight they too disappeared under cover of darkness.

In an email from Wyatt on Thursday, she said she and other members of the church "were encouraged by the impromptu love notes and no, we did not take them down."

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.