TEMPLE, Texas — Melody McCutchen is a small-town Texas girl at heart originally from Brownwood but moved to Temple with her wife, Molly.
She expressed how being accepted in a neighborhood is something she's always wanted but never received, even in her hometown as a child.
“You know, I actually took myself for a walk that morning, and when I came back and saw the flags it gave me a little hope that Texas was a better Texas...but then half an hour later the flags were already gone," said Melody.
Pride flags were placed at a spot where residents usually place flags and signs in their neighborhood.
Shortly after Melody saw those flags they were quickly removed.
It highlights a bigger issue this family says.
"...one of them being the highest suicide rates among teenagers that are LGBT...that comes from not feeling supported by their parents, lotta these people are in smaller communities," said Molly.
The flags were placed on June 20 and who removed them remains a mystery.
A psychologist, Dr. Andria Schwegler from TAMUCT added some perspective.
“We tend to have this ingroup bias where we favor the ingroup where we tend to derogate and evaluate members of the outgroup where we don’t see them as much as a human as we are," said Dr. Schwegler.
Advocacy groups are speaking up too.
“It is a tragedy when you are trying to express yourself in the right way and then have somebody take that away from you...when in reality we are the community," said Jessie Castro of Temple Pride.
City ordinances permit flags in that spot, and there's no neighborhood association that dictates what flag can be placed.
