A rainbow Pride flag has now been stolen from a Virginia Tech religious center for the third time in the last two weeks. However, the flag holder was not left empty this time as the thieves took it upon themselves to hoist two Confederate flags in their absence.
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The confederate flags were put in the front of the building where the LGBTQ symbol was, and the other was placed in the back.
"This one was just an escalation when the Confederate flag was put up in its place," the campus minister, Bret Gresham, said to NBC News.
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Gresham runs the Wesley Center, which is the off-campus building where the three Pride flags were taken. He said that the school's LGBTQ students are "hurt, saddened, and scared" because of what happened.
"My No. 1 concern is the students and making sure they feel they have a safe environment to come, to live out their faith and be affirmed in who they are," Gresham said to NBC News.
The Pride flag has been flown outside of the Wesley Center for years; according to Gresham, they even keep extra on hand. So when he noticed what had happened on Saturday morning, he reported the incident to the Blacksburg Police Department.
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According to a spokesperson from the Blacksburg Police Department, the case has been given to the criminal investigations unit.
Gresham shared on Tuesday that he hopes someone will come forward with information on what happened after photos of it went viral on social media.
The Wesley Center shared on their Facebook that "This hate crime goes against all that we believe, and we want our LGBTQ+ community to know that we will always love, support, and embrace you with open arms."