When Drew Hubbard opened their Webster Groves mailbox one day in July, they chuckled before a slight sense of fear landed in the pit of their stomach. A short note printed on a postcard-sized piece of paper solicited a terse request.
“Pride month has ended,” it read. “We are into patriot decorations this month. Please remove your flag it is no longer appropriate.”
The flag in question was Hubbard’s pride flag, which hangs outside their family home year-round. Hubbard, who’s non-binary, shared a picture of the note in a Webster Groves neighborhood Facebook group. “Bigotry is alive and well in Webster Groves in 2023,” they wrote.
Hubbard’s neighbors quickly lambasted the anonymous sender. Some vowed to put more pride flags up in protest. Others commented to say they received similar mail from unnamed writers. Apparently, so did several other people.
An untold number of Webster Groves residents and elected leaders have received numerous anonymous letters in the past two months criticizing pride flags or Black Lives Matter signs. Most assume they were written by the same person.
Letters have even been mailed to all members of Webster Groves City Council, who each received at least three throughout June, according to Jennifer Starkey, director of public affairs and engagement for the city of Webster Groves.
One letter addressed to Webster Groves’ mayor, staff and council took issue with a photo the city posted on Facebook during Pride Month, in which staff pledged a commitment to equitable service along with a photo of them with a pride flag.
This didn’t sit right with the anonymous bigot. They mailed a photo back to City Hall, but with the U.S. flag superimposed over the pride flag.
“You’ve been conned by a debauched special interest group whose only agenda is to sexualize our kids, our city, our society,” they wrote in an accompanying letter, later adding: “My pronouns are U.S.A.”
One resident wrote to Hubbard that they received an anonymous letter about a Black Lives Matter sign in their yard. “BLM is recognized as a fraudulent organization that has never done one thing for black people,” the note, ironically mailed with a “love” stamp, read. “Please don’t keep embarrassing yourself, it might be time to remove the sign.”
Hubbard says they’ve lived in Webster Groves for five years and never encountered anything so blatantly homophobic in Webster Groves. The inner-ring suburb is a fairly inclusive community Hubbard says, but in some ways, it’s not. “It’s really white, very wealthy,” they say.
But overall, City Councilmember Emily Hixson Shepherd feels like the letters are not reflective of the culture of Webster Groves.
“This is definitely not the accepted norm,” Shepherd says.
Behavior like this is almost something Hubbard has come to expect as a resident of Missouri, though.
“I feel like you could ask any queer person ‘Do you feel a rising tide of opposition to queer and trans people?’ And just about everyone would say, ‘Yeah,” Hubbard says. “I guess it [the letters] felt like a confirmation of something that I’ve felt for a while now, given how Missouri and Texas seem to be in a competition for the biggest asshole state.”
There’s still no information on who sent the letters. Webster Groves city officials encourage anyone who receives a letter to call the local police department’s non-emergency line and report it.
“As no direct threats have been made, there is very little evidence or information to go on for an investigation,” the city said in a statement. “The police department will continue to monitor these letters and will coordinate with the postal inspector as needed.”
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