A Waverley church community has been left shocked and appalled after shameless thieves removed their pride flag in a month of inclusive celebration.

Thieves have removed the flag above from St Mark’s in Hale as the church opened its doors to the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate pride month.

A spokesperson for the church said: ‘We wanted to let LGBTQ+ people know that they are not alone, that they are accepted and loved by God as they are.”

The flag was tied down high up on a church wall so the culprits must have used a ladder and tools to cut it down.

June is one of the most important months for the LGBTQ+ community with the three churches in the parish of Badshot Lea and Hale recognising its importance to people around the villages.

The church aimed to highlight the poor mental health, suicide rates and hate crimes that people in the LGBTQ+ community face in comparison to heterosexual and traditionally gendered people.

They also wanted to show there is a need for events like Pride as LGBTQ+ people still face discrimination.

Unfortunately for the church and the LGBTQ+ community, the theft of the flag which hung on the wall only reinforces the message they were trying to highlight that LGBTQ+ people still face issues like discrimination.

A spokesperson added: “We had a lot of negative feedback as well as support when we posted the theft on Facebook and we were disturbed by the levels of homophobia and also people who felt that a flag on a church was either inappropriate or disgusting or forcing agenda.”

However, the Badshot Lea and Hale community have shown solidarity against the thieves with one of the fundraisers and hall hirers for the church kindly offering to replace the stolen flag.