Pride flag ban is catching on

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck, apparently, has blazed a trail in how to deal with pride flags.
Last summer, the city council and mayor backed a ban on allowing pride flags from being flown on public property – leading to a cultural issue that split the community.
Before the council took that action, the city had allowed pride flags to be flown on city-owned flagpoles, particularly during Pride Month in June.
But when an all-male and all-Muslim conservative council and mayor were elected to office, that practice came to a halt.
The mayor and council took the step of banning most non-essential flags in the name of remaining “neutral” over what is considered controversial flags, such as, potentially, Nazi and Confederate flags.
Now, according to msn.com, other communities are taking similar action.
A Tennessee state representative, Republican Gino Bulso, recently introduced legislation in his state to ban the display of pride flags in public, including in public schools.
Bulso, who is a Christian, said the ban is to prevent “political” or “ideological” flags from being displayed.
He has said that parents want their children raised with the values of the country’s founding fathers.
(It should here be noted that, at the time of the founding fathers, slavery was legal and women did not have the right to vote.)
Bulso’s bill would allow only the display of the American and state flags.
Hamtramck’s council resolution allows only the American, state, city and Prisoner of War flags, as well as the flags that represent the international character of the city’s residents – many of who are immigrants, or sons and daughters of immigrants, from various countries in the world.
Florida and Utah have similar pending legislation, and a number of school boards across the county ban the display of pride flags.
Hamtramck officials said they took that action because of feedback they received from residents. Some residents who are opposed to displaying pride flags refer to them as “sin flags.”
But, in a federal lawsuit filed by two former members of the Housing Commission (who defied the council’s policy and raised a pride flag on a Jos. Campau flagpole), it has been claimed that the council was influenced by religious beliefs.
The two former commission members, Russ Gordon (who had been the longtime chairman) and Catrina Stackpoole, said their First Amendment rights had been violated, among other constitutional issues.
They quoted former Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury as proof that some on council acted out of religious beliefs. At a past council meeting, where the council resolution was passed despite passionate objection by some during a three-hour public discussion, Choudhury said:
“…We have to respect the religions. We have to respect the people around here. Schools, mosques, churches.”
Choudhury also said that the LGBTQ community, which the pride flags represent, is welcomed in other ways.
“You guys are welcome to the community. You guys (are) welcome to walk to the restaurants, walk to the grocery store,” Choudhury said.
“Why do we have to have a flag flown in the city property to be represented? You’re already represented. We already know who you are, and we don’t have any hate or any discrimination against that. We get along very well.”
Mayor Amer Ghalib has dismissed the lawsuit and the fuss about pride flags as coming from supporters of former Mayor Karen Majewski and the prior administration.
He said that this is “another unnecessary distraction by the former power structure that doesn’t like to see the city moving forward. Good things are happening for the first time in decades, such as budget surplus and infrastructure repair.”
“This exposes the former egregious leadership failure, therefore they want to constantly create obstacles on our way.”
Posted Jan. 19, 2024