Venice Pride banners possibly stolen

LOS ANGELES - The theft of pride banners used for the Venice Pride Block Party is being investigated as a hate crime. 

The 14x7 banners at the corner of Abbott Kinney and Venice Blvd. suddenly disappeared on May 16th.

A nearby Ring camera shows the banners flying high Friday at 9 p.m…then suddenly missing 12 hours later.

"I feel like it’s a little bit of a mico-aggression and it just feels a little targeted when we’re finding out that both signs were removed from that corner and this corner and all the other signs were left," said Venice Pride advisor Sean James. 

Organizers say they feel violated and disappointed.

"We’re not going to be silenced. We’re here, we’re queer and we’re not going anywhere," said Grant Turck, Venice Pride executive director. 

Turck founded grassroots Venice Pride in 2016. The following year, the non-profit created the first rainbow lifeguard tower – a permanent community landmark…and two years later, LA’s first rainbow sidewalk, a popular photo-op on famous Abbot Kinney.

"Venice Pride was created for the community and we created it so that we could bring everyone together. And so this is our notification everybody come together and when this is removed we don’t get to tell everybody what’s going on," stated James. 

But the show must go on…because nothing will stop the party intended to celebrate inclusion and the Venice community.