Residents of the Detroit-area community of Hamtramck have been banned from displaying LGBT flags on public property following a unanimous vote by the City Council on June 13.
City officials voted to approve a resolution on flags introduced by City Councilman Mohammed Hassan, following a lengthy debate focusing on religious and political freedoms and discrimination.
“Each religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexually-oriented group is already represented by the country it belongs to; and the City does not want to open the door for radical or racist groups to ask for their flags to be flown,” it states.
‘Attack on One Flag’
The resolution notes that the decision to ban the LGBT flag “does not in any way, shape or form infringe upon the fundamental right of an individual or business in the City of Hamtramck to engage free speech,” nor does it “limit speech by public employees provided that such employees engage in such speech in a protected time, manner and place.”During the vote, one woman stood up and kissed another woman standing next to her in protest over the resolution.
“You guys are welcome,” Councilmember Nayeem Choudhury said in response to the woman’s actions. “[But] 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.”
Keeping Flag Poles ‘Neutral’
“It basically is the council’s attempt to keep the city’s flag poles neutral,” Garbarino said. “Last year there was a Pride flag up there, and there was a dust-up in the community in regard to that. There was a lot of the community that was for it. There was a lot of the community that was against it.”“The thought process, I believe, is that it potentially could go up here again this summer. And this is basically a resolution specifically just saying these are the only flags we want in an attempt to stay neutral on the topic,” he added.
Elsewhere, Hassan defended the move, noting that members of the LGBT community and others are welcome in Hamtramck but that religious freedom must be respected.
“We love everybody. We don’t hate anybody. We don’t discriminate [against] anybody. We are living very respectfully without hate,” he said.
Mayor Amer Ghalib, the first Arab-American and Muslim to be elected mayor of Hamtramck, also defended the resolution, telling residents during Tuesday’s meeting, “We serve everybody equally with no discrimination but without favoritism.”
Hamtramck follows in the footsteps of dozens of other communities across the United States imposing restrictions on LGBT flags and other flags, including Orange County, California and Cold Spring, New York.
However, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes defended the decision to keep the Pride flag in place above veterans’ facilities, citing the contributions of “more than one million LGBTQ+ veterans” in the United States.
