2 men seen urinating on pride flag, saying homophobic slurs; Police investigating as hate crime

Police are looking into a hate crime that happened near The Ohio State University last week.

Two men were caught on surveillance video approaching the front door of a Columbus home with an LGBTQ+ pride flag on the porch. The video, obtained by our news partners at WBNS in Columbus, shows one of them pulling down his pants and urinating on the flag while the other man appears to be filming him.

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One of the men could also be heard yelling homophobic slurs. He then banged on the doors before taking off running.

WBNS spoke to the family that lives in the home.

“It was shocking but not surprising,” Sarah, one of the residents, said.

Another one of the people who lives there posted the video online and that was how the police found them.

Columbus police showed up at their home within a couple of hours of the video being online on Sunday. They were joined by an LGBTQ+ liaison who specifically handles hate crimes.

Zoe, who shared the video, said she did so to set an example for her two children, both of whom are trans.

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“I’ve got a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, and we’ve had the gamut of school experiences,” Zoe said. “This isn’t something that they should expect as normalized in their life.”

While the incident is taking a toll on the family, they said it won’t stop them from keeping their pride on full display.

“We’re not looking for trouble, we’re not looking for a fight, but we are looking to uplift our community and be a safe space for our community,” Kieve, who also lives at the home, said.

Police have not said if they have identified the two men in the video, but said they are investigating the incident as a hate crime.