A Massachusetts man says he called the police after his family was sent a greeting card criticizing their LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter flags.
The man, Dave Thomas of Hanover, was, of course, informed that the complaint card was protected under the First Amendment and did not qualify as “harassment.”
The letter began, “Hi neighbor, thank you for helping keep our property taxes so low due to the fact your home is a sh-thole.”
The anonymous neighbor offered the following suggestions for the Thomas family to fix up the property:
- Paint it.
- Take down the pride flag. No one cares.
- Take down the BLM sign, BLM is a scam.
- Pull the Sanders sticker off the mailbox, it’s the law.
“Finally, move to California or Oregon so you can enjoy living with the rest of the NUTS!” the neighbor concluded.
The Thomas family called the police, who said that they would investigate, but told them that just like the flags — the Constitution protects the complaint, as there were no threats made.
“It was just kind of a little frightening,” Thomas told local station WCVB. “They want us to take down the Pride flags. It says no one cares. ‘Take down the Black Lives Matter signs. Black Lives Matter is a scam,’ they say. They want us to take our Bernie Sanders sticker off the mailbox. ‘It’s the law,’ they say.”
“We have every right to put these flags in front of our house and to express our opinions,” Thomas continued. “I’ve been seeing a lot of people expressing their opinions in a lot more impolite ways.”
The Thomas family has said that they will not be removing the political decorations.
The Hanover Police have said that they will monitor the home despite no crime having been committed.
“We’re just keeping our eyes open and making sure that nothing else happens because we want to make sure we keep our kids safe,” Thomas said. “It’s a little nerve-wracking, and it makes me angry and upset.”
Hanover, though it is in a blue state, tends to be a battleground town with more Republican voters than Democrats.
“Across all types of political contests in Hanover, including state, local and presidential elections, races come within five percentage points 50% of the time,” according to Best Neighborhood.
President Joe Biden narrowly won Hanover in 2020.
