Jersey City's 16th annual LGBT pride festival occurs later this month, but not everyone may be feeling love toward the gay community.

Someone appears to have set fire to a rainbow-colored pride flag that the owner of Montgomery Street salon The Hair Room has had hanging from a flower box outside her front door since the place opened in late June.

Salon owner Anatalie David told The Jersey Journal yesterday morning she was away last weekend and found the burned flag upon her return yesterday. David said she hopes the flag was set ablaze as the result of a personal grudge or as a prank and not as an act of hatred toward the LGBT community.

She said that when she first saw the burned remnants of the flag Monday morning, "My heart sank, and I felt sick to my stomach."

David posted a photo of the charred flag on Instagram Monday, adding, "Whoever did this I hope you find the peace in your heart you are so clearly missing."

Police and fire investigators are reviewing security footage from neighboring buildings taken during the weekend, when the apparent act of arson is believed to have occurred, according to city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.

The incident comes about a month before the 16th annual LGBT pride festival, an all-day street fair scheduled for Aug. 27 at Newark Avenue and Grove Street.

City officials believe Jersey City has the state's largest LGBT community. Human Rights Campaign has for three years in a row ranked Jersey City the No. 1 city in New Jersey for LGBT-inclusive laws and policies.

"We are saddened to see this kind of hate in our community, which we know is not representative of Jersey City," Morrill said. "Our police are actively working to identify the person or persons who committed this crime and will hold them fully accountable under the law."

David said the flag came into her possession in a mysterious way: she found it on the salon's front stoop on June 14 -- Flag Day and also the day thousands gathered on Newark Avenue to honor the victims of the June 12 massacre at Orlando gay nightclub Pulse that left 49 dead.

She calls the flag appearing at her salon that day "a cosmic sign.

"It found me," she said.

David said she's in contact with a local LGBT group to paint the front of her salon. She wants to turn the exterior into an even larger tribute to the gay community, as a message to the person who destroyed her pride flag.

"You're not shutting us up," she said.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd.