Local governments are banning pride flags on public property

From allegations of corporations limiting Pride displays in stores to state legislatures passing laws restricting classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, this year has seen much debate over LGBTQ rights and representation, making for a Pride month marked by backlash against queer communities.

These fights aren’t occurring just on network news or in Congress or even in state capitol buildings. They are trickling down to the most local levels of government.

In Orange County, California, a member of the Board of Supervisors who unsuccessfully tried to stop a resolution banning nongovernment flags from being flown on county property said she noticed an unmistakable shift as conservatives began to refocus their attention nationally on LGBTQ rights earlier this year.

“In February, it pivoted dramatically,” Supervisor Katrina Foley told the American Independent Foundation. “For nothing that we did, it was just all of a sudden, the people that had come for two years saying those same message talking points came, and they would pull items to speak on that have nothing to do with LGBTQ issues, and then would start confusing the discussion with LGBT, anti-gay sentiment.”

She tied the sentiments directly to the national media climate.

“I absolutely believe that this is some kind of a national messaging movement that’s coming from, like, Newsmax and Trump, and because the same messaging happened for two years on other topics,” Foley said. “You know, it was a similar group — it’s all the same people. And suddenly this is their reason for being. These are the same people who were coming to our board meeting saying that the vaccine is injecting tracking devices inside of us.”

According to the website Voice of Orange County, the resolution barring the pride flag passed on June 6 by a vote of 3-2, with Foley and another supervisor voting against it.

Both in Orange County and in Hamtramck, Michigan, a community with a similar resolution, local elected officials have claimed the new restrictions on flags have nothing to do with the LGBTQ community. 

At the June 13 meeting at which the Hamtramck City Council unanimously passed its resolution, Council member Nayeem Choudhury said LGBTQ people are welcome, but, according to the Detroit Free Press, asked: “Why do you have to have the flag shown on government property to be represented? You’re already represented. We already know who you are.”

Those comments notwithstanding, Detroit-area activist Gracie Cadieux said the Hamtramck City Council’s past history with the LGBTQ community makes its intent clear.

“It’s been a known fact that the city government is not queer-friendly in the slightest,” Cadieux said. “There have been multiple instances of the city government, as far as Council members themselves, saying inappropriate things about the queer community, the mayor agreeing with people about inappropriate things about the queer community, and just very open about their hatred of us. So this has just been brewing for a minute.”

In Orange County, the resolution on flags was introduced after Foley and Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento had introduced a resolution to purchase and fly a pride flag on county property. The chair of the Board of Supervisors, Don Wagner, rejected the request. According to Voice of OC, Wagner said during the meeting: “It is not a coincidence that this policy is in front of us right now. It is not a coincidence that we’re considering it today for the first time in the more than 100 years of this County’s existence.”

Foley said Wagner’s statement made clear what the actual intentions are behind the resolution restricting which flags can be flown over county property.

“He admitted on the dais that he denied it because he thought that it’s too political and divisive,” Foley said.

She said that, based on support for the LGBTQ community in Orange County’s budget, she was surprised at the opposition to the pride flag on the Board of Supervisors.

“I would never have thought this was going to be at all controversial,” Foley said.

Cadieux, who lives just outside Hamtramck in the city of Detroit, was less surprised by the Hamtramck Council’s actions.

Cadieux said there was already a wave of property crime targeting pro-LGBTQ displays before the Council’s vote.

“A local restaurant in the area has reported multiple pride flags ripped off this summer alone, as well as eight last year,” Cadieux said. “There’s been a few Ring camera videos of people running up and destroying pride flags.”

Hamtramck isn’t unique in the Detroit area, either: Cadieux said the events in that town are connected to instances of anti-LGBTQ sentiment elsewhere in the area.

The flag resolution was backed by people already known in the region for being in favor of book bans in local schools, Cadieux said.

“This isn’t new. This has been happening. We’ve seen them move throughout on libraries and schools,” Cadieux said. “What is new is the flagpole itself.”

Orange County did ultimately recognize Pride month a week after the flag resolution passed, and, despite a protest against Hamtramck’s decision, the Council took no steps to soften its stance. Neither the chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors nor Hamtramck’s mayor responded to the American Independent Foundation’s request for comment; the city manager of Hamtramck said the city had no statement to give.

“The actual reality of this is that no one’s coming to save us, and our communities have to stand on their own and together. The only way we’re making it out of this is with community,” Cadieux said. “That’s the only way we’re going to have the strength to survive it and the strength to push back in electoral votes. That’s all we can do.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.