Neighbors Fly Rainbow Flags After Couple's Pride Flag Stolen

BARRINGTON, IL — Less than a year after moving to the area, a Barrington couple and their two daughters got a heartfelt holiday gift just weeks after their LGBT pride flag was stolen from behind their house, according to several reports. WGN said Casey Handal and Zadette Rosado, who are getting married at the end of the month, discovered two weeks ago that their rainbow flag was taken down and replaced with a United States flag.

Handal posted her thoughts to Facebook (see below) following what happened outside the family's home. "In a perfect world, I'd love to have a conversation with this person, and find out why they chose to do what they did, and maybe show him or her that we are all human, and should be spreading love and kindness this time of year, not hate."

As the incident left the family "pretty devastated," according to Handal, one of their neighbors chose to take matters into her own hands, WGN reported.

The family's neighbor, Kim Filian, decided to plant a pride flag on her lawn despite not knowing the couple that well, according to the news report. Filian's thoughtful gesture led to other neighbors placing flags around the neighborhood, in addition to gifts and people dropping by the family's home.

Rosado called the neighbors' actions a silver lining in a bad situation, WGN said, adding that Handal said it was a lesson for their children and the other kids in the neighborhood.

"There are bad people in the world and you need to watch out for them but ultimately there's a lot more good in the world than there is bad," Handal told WLS-TV.

The rainbow flags now line the front yard of a home, sit on a mailbox, and one is even being flown by Santa as part of a lawn decoration, WLS said.

The couple's story has been shared across social media and even received a shout out by ED, the Ellen DeGeneres lifestyle brand.

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We were so moved by @suitcasehandal’s story of the #love and #kindness of their community. After their gay flag had been stolen, dozens of neighbors shared their support by putting gay flags on their mailboxes. Pictured is Casey Handal, wearing Ellen’s Love Script Sweater to show that #LoveWins (rainbow flag emoji) Read the full story in the @chicagotribune
A post shared by ED Ellen DeGeneres (@edbyellen) on Dec 20, 2018 at 7:51am PST

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