A California city voted to bar political and LGBT flags from public property, sparking a potential legal showdown. The move came after an all-Muslim city council in Michigan voted to bar similar flags from public property last year.
The move was approved by voters in Huntington Beach this week. As part of the measure, non-U.S. flags are barred, including LGBT Pride and Confederate flags.
Voters in California’s Huntington Beach have approved two conservative ballot measures, including one allowing the city to require voter identification for elections, and another that effectively bans flying the LGBTQ pride flag at City Hall. https://t.co/NR6bnhsIN0
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) March 10, 2024
The bill’s author, Huntington Beach City Councilman Pat Burns, said that he was “against the identity politics, I think it’s divisive.”
“I think it’s demeaning, to be honest, that flag, that I find is so insulting to LGBTQ. And I know that they support it, but in my mind, it’s demeaning that they need some kind of special recognition to feel like they’re part of our community. People are equal and those kinds of things are divisive,” he said.
The city has flown the LGBT Pride flag during June the last two years.
In 2023, the Democratic Party-controlled city council of Hamtramck, Michigan voted to remove all flags from public property, except for the city flag, the state of Michigan flag, the U.S. flag and flags of the nationalities of the city’s residents.
The move was condemned by LGBT activists, with one self-described gay former council member telling members of the council “We welcomed you.”
“We created nonprofits to help feed, clothe, find housing. We did everything we could to make your transition here easier, and this is how you repay us, by stabbing us in the back?” she said.
Mayor Amer Ghalib (D) said that the measure was not “targeting anybody. We are trying to close the door for other groups that could be extremist or racist.”
After several city commissioners attempted to fly the LGBT flag in opposition of the city council action they were fired.
The move was also condemned by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), who requested that the city “speak up for all its people, take down the wall you have now built that has made this proud city into a national embarrassment. Make no mistake, homophobia, transphobia are indeed forms of evil as much as Islamophobia is.”
