SWMRflag
A lesbian activist awarded an MBE has been found guilty of criminal damage to an ‘Intersex-Inclusive’ Pride flag – after cutting out the triangle section.
Clare Dimyon sliced out the triangular part of the flag which was hung by the door of Stanford Avenue Methodist Church in Brighton.
A triangle section on a Pride flag is added to represent trans and intersex and celebrate diversity and inclusion for other groups in the LGBTQI+ community.
She removed the triangular section of the flag printed onto an aluminum composite board leaving only the rainbow part – replacing the board the other way up.
Dimyon told Brighton Magistrates Court that the flag had been displayed with the “wrong orientation”.
She claimed according to the Town and Country Planning Act (2021) and the Flag Institute “it wasn’t a flag, it was an advertising hoarding”.
She claims while the rainbow flag can be flown on buildings without planning permission the flag – with the added triangle – ‘needed planning permission, especially in a conservation area’.
Dimyon was found guilty of criminal damage and ordered by District Judge Szagun to pay costs of £180 to the church and £180 to CPS.
Following the hearing the CPS said ”the district judge did not accept a hate crime uplift as part of sentencing”.
Dimyon was awarded an MBE for services to the human rights and responsibilities of LGBT people in 2010 at Buckingham Palace.
She was honoured for “services to promoting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in central and eastern Europe”.
Speaking after the case she said: “In this case it wasn’t a flag – it was an advertising hoarding.
”It had a flag printed on it and the flag had been printed the wrong way round and when you hang a flag the other way round it is in fact an insult.
“I am attached to my flag – it is my flag for 30 years. We are disappearing from our own flag and that’s not okay.
“I understood what I was doing – I am a little bit annoyed that I get a criminal conviction and the charges aren’t even accurate.
“What I did was highly symbolic I did very deliberately and very accurately cut the triangle away, I turned the red to the left hand side and gave them a far better result.
“It is in my local area which is in a conservation area – I lived here for 30 years.”
She is considering whether to appeal.
ENDS
