Multiple LGBTQ+ pride flags, which were displayed in celebration of Pride Month, were stolen from the Citrus’ Campus Mall.
“Concerning this matter and in alignment with our protocols on campus, a report was taken by Campus Safety and Glendora PD,” Richard Rams, Citrus’ vice president of student services, said in an email.
The Citrus’ Pride Center coordinator, Anastasia Arnestad, said the flags were thought to be stolen either late at night on June 9 or in the early morning of June 10.
Rams said Citrus continues to celebrate Pride Month during the month of June. As of June 17, the flags displayed in the Campus Mall have been replaced.
Citrus’ Campus Safety they currently had no updates on the investigation to share.
“It definitely is disheartening knowing that despite the relatively accepting environment Citrus has for LGBTQ+ students and staff,” Noir Rice, an engineering major at Citrus, said via email, “there’s still people who are willing to act on their own hatred of the community, rather than be open to accepting others.
“Stealing pride flags isn’t the worst thing that could have happened, but it doesn’t make me (along with likely many others) feel confident in the safety of the campus in that regard.”
Rice said they joined Citrus’ GSA club about a month ago at a friend’s recommendation. They said it’s been helpful having a space to talk about “sexuality and gender identity without having to be worried about the social consequences of talking about that at the wrong time.”
Alexander Ainsworth, a computer science student at Citrus, also said he was glad for the LBGTQ+ community on campus.
“I’ve made a lot of great friends from this … community on campus and like the people that are involved in the queer community, especially within the Pride Center, are … really fantastic,” Ainsworth said.
Ainsworth said he noticed something wrong when he came onto campus. The next day in the Pride Center, Arnestad told Ainsworth the pride flags had been stolen.
“That says a lot,” Ainsworth said.
He said people never hear about “commencement flags or other signage” being stolen or vandalized on campus.
“It’s disappointing and disconcerting to have something like this happen on campus,” Ainsworth said. “… This sort of response from the (Citrus) community… is disappointing.”
Anna Villeneuve, an English professor who’s been at Citrus for 24 years, said homophobic encounters on campus are a “rarity” in her experience.
“Most of my experience at Citrus has been so positive that the flags disappearing I was just shocked,” she said. “It worries me a lot because of the statement that a pride flag makes… for somebody to take those flags away sends a message to me, at least, as a queer person on campus. I feel like that’s a message of someone saying, ‘If I could choose, I would not have you in this space.’”
Villeneuve said “with or without the pride flags” she sees the LGBTQ+ students on campus.
“I want for it to be a recognition that there is still that population that needs to grow and learn,” she said.
Villeneuve said she doesn’t want the self-worth of LBGTQ+ students at Citrus to be impacted by the theft of the flags.
