A Petrolia chip truck owner is hosting an event to re-raise his pride flags after being harassed about the displays earlier this month.
Truckin' Mamas Co-Owner Christopher Tripp said the Re-raising of the Pride Flag and Customer Appreciation event gets going at 5 p.m. on June 1 in Bridgeview Park.
Tripp said he took down the flags after an argument with a gentleman who was upset with the flags for numerous reasons.
"One was an issue with the transgender part of it because of puberty inhibiting drugs, and then he said 'the pride flag was against women's rights' -- it was one thing after another."
Tripp and his mother are the co-owners of the truck. He said the man approached them before they opened up for the day.
"At the point after about 30 minutes, I kind of walked away. He was getting in [my mother's] face, so to defuse the situation I said 'I'm just going to take them down.' That didn't mean I was taking them down forever."
Tripp then shared the news of the confrontation on social media.
"When I posted on the Facebook page that they were taken down because of an altercation, customers, friends, a very large portion of the town spoke and wanted them back up. So, because of that reason, we decided to [host the event] on June 1, which is the beginning of Pride Month."
Tripp said it's the first time someone has had an issue with the flags in his four seasons in Bridgeview Park. However, he said after he and his mom opened the Cozy Diner in Petrolia, vandals spray-painted his car with a homophonic remark and a message to 'get out of town'.
Tripp talked about why they're hosting Wednesday's event.
"It's because we have a very large number of youth that are going through transitional issues, whether it be non-binary, whether it be transgender, whether it be them coming out as being gay, and they don't feel that they can do that in our community. So, for that reason somebody needs to stand up in the community and make it seem like it's okay."
Tripp said the event went from a small thing to something a bit bigger.
"We are not only re-raising the flags, we've invited everybody down for complementary hot dogs and french fries between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., there is a raffle -- all of this will be by donation only, and all of the money raised will be donated to the new organization Diversity Ed in Sarnia."
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- With files from Josh Boyce