Man Shown On Video Ripping Down Pride Flag At Doylestown Business

DOYLESTOWN BOROUGH, PA — Another Pride flag has been ripped down from the Evolution Candy store on West State Street in downtown Doylestown, marking the fourth time the store has lost a flag in recent years.

A surveillance video from Saturday shows a man walking down Printer's Alley toward the store, then pausing before ripping down the flag. The incident allegedly happened in front of two 10-year-olds who told the man they were going to call the police.

The man can clearly be heard on the video responding to the kids, "Call the cops. It's 1-800-Who-Cares. No gay people."

Following an investigation, the Central Bucks Regional Police Department has cited a 60-year-old Lansdale man with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, both non-traffic summary offenses.

Store owners Tracy and James Lamb raised their first Pride flag in June 2019 to commemorate Pride Month. In 2020, they decided it was easier to keep the flag up year-round. There were no incidents until the beginning of 2023, when they received a letter from a disgruntled customer stating that they would no longer shop there due to the flag.

A few months later, their Pride flag was stolen for the first time. It was around that same time the borough painted the crosswalk at Printer's Alley with a Pride Progress flag.

“Sometime during Easter - the one time we are closed - somebody bothered to climb up there and unscrew the eye hooks and remove the flag. It was not torn down. It was unscrewed and taken off the building,” said Tracy in 2023.

It took her a few days to replace the eye hooks, but soon a new flag was flying. And it stayed that way for a month. In early June, two more flags were ripped down over one weekend.

“We are committed to the flag and we are committed to this community. Everyone is welcome here,” Tracy said in 2023.