ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A University of New Mexico (UNM) security officer has confessed to vandalizing the gay pride flags of a student.
The vandalism of Ben Gerstner’s flags started nearly two years ago when he and his friends began putting gay pride flags outside of their offices in the school’s biology building, reports KOAT. After they would put their flags up, someone would tear them down and write insults like “aids spreader” and “pedo” on them.
Gerstner said the vandalism happened for about a year. Every time they would put up a flag, it would be torn down the next day. One time an American flag replaced his gay pride flag. Gerstner’s sign on his door was also vandalized, with the perpetrator writing homophobic insults on it.
He and his attorney then filed a complaint with UNM. Three months later, a Ring camera set up by the school caught someone wearing a red UNM security jacket and a mask covering the camera. Another of Gerstner’s flags was vandalized that same day.
Camera Catches UNM Security Officer
When UNM officials asked the security officers working on the evening when all of this happened, one of the officers confessed. He later resigned, but no charges were filed against him.
Gerstner and his attorney have filed a lawsuit against UNM for not protecting him.
The UNM incidents follow a significant nationwide increase in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community since 2015. In 2022, overall anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes increased by nearly 14% from the previous year, according to the FBI.
For K-12 schools, the increase was even more significant. In states that enacted anti-LGBTQ+ laws, there were more than four times the number of reported LGBTQ+ hate crimes at K-12 campuses, Campus Safety previously reported.
