Thieves make off with letters from Regina church's sign showing support for Queen City Pride

A Regina church's sign of apology and affirmation for the LGBTcommunitywas gaining traction and positive feedback via social media, before the letters were removedfrom the signapparently stolen.

The sign outside of Knox-Metropolitan United Church read, "For hurts caused by churches, we are sorry," with the bottom line reading, "QC Pride 2018."

Knox-Metropolitan minister Cam Fraser said the church is on the Queen City Pride Parade route, and the sign was meant to reflect the importance of the Pride event.

"We also want to recognize that the treatment people in LGBTQ communities have received from churches have been often really, really damaging and causing a lot of pain," he said.

While the United church affirms and welcomes the gender and sexually diverse community, he noted other churches may take a different stance.

"The thing that we would perhaps argue is that the difficult conversations that are going on within different traditions are nothing compared to the pain that individuals have faced at being told they were not welcome in a place that was meant to nurture them."

While several had taken pictures of the sign and shared it on social media, the letters were later removed and stolen.

"It's unfortunate that someone felt the need to do that," said Queen City Pride organizer Dan Shier of the theft.

He said many people were excited to see an ally show a visible sign of support for the gender and sexually diverse community.

"It's definitely something that's very touching and important for many members of our community who come from a background of faith."

Shier said he would be meeting with Fraser, to express the LGBT community's gratitude for the church's stance as an ally, a relationship he described as "a two-way street."

"They're supportive of us, of what our community stands for, and I think it's important for us to also show that support back to them."