Renee LaMark Muir

Yesterday in Deep River, we were reminded that the political vitriol and anger are pervasive and trying to spread into our towns. Transphobic and homophobic flyers were distributed around town attacking an educational event sponsored by the Tri-Town Youth Services Bureau. These flyers promoted transphobic and homophobic tropes, blatantly false information, and disturbing hate speech to strike fear in the presenter, persons attending the event, and residents in the town.

Our town responded by exemplifying its empathy, acceptance of all, and its strength. Residents collected many of the flyers and welcomed the presenter and attendees with an "Angel Walk" at the Deep River Public Library. This civic engagement is what makes our communities so strong, compassionate, and welcoming. There is no room for hate speech in our town or anywhere, and Deep River residents will not be intimidated.

I echo the statements made by Deep River First Selectman Carol Jones. The distributor(s) of the flyers have not yet been identified, and the flyer is anonymous, not attributed to any organization or source. I encourage anyone who may have witnessed the distribution of the flyers or who may have home security footage of the incident or may have information about the persons or organization behind the flyers to contact the Deep River Police Department.