A child paints a rainbow in their window while under coronavirus lockdown. (Twitter/@Mammy_of_boys)

The sight of children creating rainbows amid the coronavirus lockdown has sparked fury in one Mumsnet user, who claims the rainbow flag is a “weapon”.

Children’s drawings and paintings of rainbows have been springing up in windows across the UK after a heartwarming trend started online.

Hundreds of schools encouraged their pupils to join in and “spread hope” to those unable to leave home during the pandemic, and the trend was spread further on social media with the hashtags #FromMyWindow and #ChaseTheRainbow.

This didn’t go down well with one commenter on the parenting forum, who urged fellow parents not to allow their children to take part because of the rainbow’s trans-inclusive message.

In a post entitled “Please don’t put a rainbow in your window,” Mumsnetter RuffleCrow wrote: “For the past few years the rainbow has sadly become a symbol of silencing, sexual stereotyping and oppression for a lot of women and those in the LGB community.

“If you’re thinking of putting one up, please think about how that may make women feel – many of whom have already experienced death threats and lost their friends and jobs thanks to those who wield the rainbow flag as a weapon.

“I just saw two on my walk just now and it made me feel like s**t. Not the intended effect I’m sure. Please consider something else: the sun coming out from a cloud, or a simple landscape. Thanks.”

As a symbol of hope, promise and community, we have asked the children to paint or draw rainbows to place in their front windows. Stay safe everyone. #AmazeAchieveAspire #rainbowtrail #rainbowwindow pic.twitter.com/biT6p5AUYO — Harworth Academy (@HarworthOffice) March 23, 2020

At the bottom of their post the user included a poll, asking readers the question: “Am I being unreasonable?”

They probably expected most Mumsnetters to agree with them given that many users have previously spoken at length of their hatred for the LGBT+ rainbow, describing it as “a Nazi flag”, “anti-female” and “a symbol of homophobia and misogyny”.

They will have been disappointed to see that, as of Tuesday morning, 92 per cent firmly declared that yes – they were definitely being unreasonable.

Only eight per cent of voters agreed with RuffleCrow’s anger at the rainbow drawings. The poll hasn’t closed yet but with 1635 Mumsnetters voting so far, the final verdict looks clear.

But in case there was any doubt, streams of Mumsnetters told the poster exactly what they thought over 39 pages of comments.

“If this is all you have to feel s**t about consider yourself bloody lucky. Get over yourself,” one replied.

“People are fekkin dying, if my kids want to put a bloody rainbow in their window to cheer a dog walker up or someone out fetching groceries then they will,” another user wrote. “You don’t own the rainbow.”

“What do you do when there is an actual rainbow in the sky?” another asked.

“There’s an irony in the frequent Mumsnet complaints that trans activists want everything to centre on trans people when there are so many posts finding ways to make almost anything about the poster’s reaction to trans activists,” one commenter noted pointedly.

Mumsnet founder and CEO Justine Roberts told PinkNews: “There’s a huge diversity of opinion on Mumsnet, which this discussion thread illustrates pretty well.

“We’ve always believed that debate between people who disagree is healthy and useful in allowing people to see alternative points of view.”