A reverend in Ohio revealed a thief has stolen part of his church display honouring the trans people who were killed in 2019.

St Peter’s United Church of Christ in Cincinnati, Ohio, describes itself as a “100 per cent hate free zone”.

According to its website, the church welcomes everyone into its community “no matter your faith background, sexual orientation, gender identity [or] race”.

Reverend Derek Terry had created a display outside the church, flying trans Pride flags and putting up signs showing the names and ages of trans people who had been killed in the US in 2019.

But Terry told Fox 19 that on Saturday, February 1, he noticed that the two trans Pride flags that made up part of the display were missing. After checking the church’s security footage, he realised they had been stolen.

Terry added that the church has had problems with vandalism in the past, and said: “Anytime you make a stand for anything, there’s always someone who has a different perspective or different idea.

“And so, like I said, this has happened to us before, so I get it, but of course I was angered. I was upset.”

He said he is not sure of the thief’s reason for stealing the flag, but added: “It’s still stealing. It’s still wrong.

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“If it is from hatred and bigotry, I hope they find peace from it as well.”

The church is planning to install permanent Pride flags, both on flag poles in the grass and attached to the front of the building.

St. Peters UCC Cinci@Stpeterscinci

To whomever stole our Trans flags at @Stpeterscinci: God saw you and so did our cameras. Once the ground is softer we will have permanent flag poles installed and pride flags will wave 20 feet in the air. When you go low we will go high. #carryon

118:07 – 1 Feb 2020Twitter Ads information and privacySee St. Peters UCC Cinci’s other Tweets

Terry wrote on Twitter: “To whomever stole our Trans flags: God saw you and so did our cameras. 

“Once the ground is softer we will have permanent flag poles installed and pride flags will wave 20 feet in the air. 

“When you go low we will go high.”

He said he had given the security footage to police, but that he was more focused on spreading love than on catching the thief.