Cedar Park's Church of the Savior vows to keep flying pride flag despite repeated thefts

When Damon Smith climbed into a dumpster to retrieve the pride flag stolen from his Cedar Park church, he said he was a little worried. "I was afraid the dumpster might tip over," he said.

The Church of the Savior on Little Elm Trail has had problems with repeated thefts of its pride flag. When Smith, a trustee of the church, started attending services about two months ago, he decided to make sure the flag kept flying outside the building.

"My mission is to make sure our church is able to express our values to the community," said Smith. He said he figured he could do the job because he works in information security for Apple.

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The LBGTQ+ pride flag supports people who are lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer, intersex or asexual.

The Church of the Savior, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ, believes that everyone is loved, said pastor Mark Dowell. "I'm a recovered addict," he said. "I don't want to turn away anybody."

On its website, the church says it has a long history of commitments to justice for the LGBTQIA+ community and is "committed to justice for immigrants and for the unsheltered."

Smith's first challenge came in May when he put up the flag and it was stolen three days later, Smith said. The second flag he put up also was stolen about three days later, but it was the one he found in the dumpster. He declined to say how he found it.

After he put it up again, the church got a security camera — not only for the flag but also to curb thefts from its mailbox, Smith said.

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The flag was stolen a third time in May after it had flown for two days, he said. This time the camera caught a shot of the person who took it and the vehicle the person was in, Smith said. He said he called Cedar Park police, who determined a teenage boy had taken the flag. Police asked Smith if he wanted to press charges, he said, but Smith said he declined after finding out the juvenile stole the flag on a dare.

"I was a kid once," Smith said. "I didn't want to put a black mark on someone's criminal record because they did something stupid."

Smith said he got the flag back and that it was flying outside the church again for about a week before it was stolen for the fourth time Monday, he said.

Smith again called police, who found it in the bed of a pickup. Smith said he heard the man telling officers at the scene that he took it because he was a Christian and didn't agree with the flag.

"This kind of struck a chord with me," Smith said. "I’m also a Christian man. … Nowhere does (the Bible) talk about using force to make other people come to your way of thinking."

The church so far has decided not to press charges but might reconsider, Smith said.

Cedar Park police confirmed they had received two reports of theft of the flag in May and June.

Smith said he will do whatever it takes to keep the pride flag flying at the church.

"I'm not saying every church has to be this way," he said, "but we deserve to have our voice heard."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Cedar Park church fights back against repeated pride flag thefts