Beverly Becomes A Battleground In Culture Wars

BEVERLY, MA — A resident's Facebook post about seeing a crossing guard wearing what she thought was a "Make America Great Again" hat and a restaurant owner's decision to post a letter from a customer who criticized his decision to display a rainbow-colored banner to mark Pride Month set off a heated and, at times, ugly debate in Beverly this week. The two incidents suggest that the culture wars in national politics are also pitting neighbor against neighbor in communities like Beverly.

Nicole Gendron posted a message in a Facebook group for Beverly residents this week saying she had seen a crossing guard in what she thought was a MAGA hat when she dropped her child off at school. When that post was quickly removed by the group's administrators, she posted the message on her personal Facebook page. Gendron referred to the crossing guard as a "racist piece of [expletive deleted]" before it was noted that the white type on the red hat actually said "Best Crossing Guard Ever," prompting her to edit her post.

"People in MAGA hats are racist pieces of [expletive deleted]. I'm glad he's not....Folks on the town page seemed totally fine with a crossing guard in a MAGA hat, if that's what it had been," she wrote in revisions of her initial posts.

Meanwhile, the owners of Bonefish Harry's on Cabot Street used their Facebook page to post a photograph of a typed letter from a customer who asked them to consider removing a rainbow-colored banner for Pride month.

"You have made a political/moral statement supporting sexual behavior that half of America declares immoral," the letter signed by Owen Donaldson of Beverly said. "My hope is that you'll...take down your flag. Perhaps then we will reconsider whether we and our family will again come to enjoy Bonefish Harry's as a restaurant instead of regarding it a misguided 'virtue signaling' establishment."

The initial post, which accused Donaldson of slander and bullying, received more than 6,000 comments. While most of the comments were supportive, many were critical of the restaurant. In a follow-up post, the restaurant said it had been accused of writing the letter as a publicity stunt.

"We 100% did not write this letter or know who did. What we do know is that we support everyone in our community and welcome everyone in our restaurants," the post said.