Residents of Huntington Beach, California have approved a measure banning the Pride flag from being flown on city property.
On Tuesday, 58% of voters reportedly approved an ordinance passed last year by the City Council that exclusively allows government flags to be flown over City Hall. Only 22% of registered voters participated. The move is likely the first time voters have been asked to decide what kinds of flags should be flown in a city in California.
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In 2021, the City Council voted unanimously to fly the Pride flag in June to honor Pride Month, but many have since argued that doing so discriminates against other groups.
Councilmember Pat Burns (R) led the effort to pass the ordinance last year. Although he did not mention the Pride flag directly when proposing the new policy, he said in a statement that the city “should avoid actions that could easily or mistakenly be perceived as divisive” and that “all are equally valued members of our community, and none are to be treated differently or discriminated against.”
Burns said the city should only fly the American flag, the California state flag, the POW/MIA flag, the Huntington Beach City flag, and occasionally the Orange County flag. The only other previously approved flag was the Pride flag.
In addition to the Pride flag, the measure approved by voters bans religious flags and breast cancer awareness flags, according to the Los Angeles Blade.
At the time of the original proposal, citizens were overwhelmingly against the change during the two-hour public comment period. In addition to those speaking, many letters were sent to the city about the issue. Of those letters, 228 supported keeping the Pride flag while only 46 supported banning it.
Huntington Beach has gained a rather conservative reputation as of late. The city banned both mask and vaccine mandates and created a panel to assess children’s library books for explicit content, according to NBC News.
Four conservative candidates were elected to the City Council in 2022, which allowed ordinances like the flag ban to pass.
“The Huntington Beach City Council is run by a hateful majority whose only interest is advancing an agenda of intolerance for minority communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals,” Peg Coley, the executive director of the LGBTQ Center Orange County, toldNBC News in reaction to the recent vote. “The pendulum always swings back and history is the harshest judge, but informed votes are the very best prevention.”
City Council Member Rhonda Bolton was against the measure and said it “sets a tone.”
“If people think it’s OK or it becomes normalized to display bigotry towards a particular group,” Bolton said, “then folks are going to crawl out of their rock and do bad stuff.”
Councilmember Dan Kalmick said the measure would deter tourists and have a negative impact on the city’s economy.
“As a tourist community, I want to shake every tourist upside down by their ankles to get money out of them,” he said. “Therefore, we should be open and inclusive of everyone, and everyone should feel comfortable to come here and spend their money.”
LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD also spoke out. “Enshrining discrimination fuels division,” the group said in a statement. “We saw it flying proudly in Huntington Beach to honor trans teenager Nex Benedict last month. Pride flags show LGBTQ people, youth, and our allies that they are welcome.”
Nonbinary Oklahoma teen Nex Benedict died a day after three girls attacked him in a high school girls’ bathroom. The cause of death has not been confirmed, but LGBTQ+ advocates say it was the direct result of the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ hate sweeping across the nation.
Indeed, a hate crimes report from Orange County – where Huntington Beach is located – found a 126% increase in anti-LGBTQ+ hate activity from 2021 to 2022.
But the city’s conservative leaders are standing by their beliefs.
Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark (R) supports the flag ban. “A lot of this is taking Huntington Beach back to how it was,” Mark told NBC. A former Democrat, she officially became a Republican in 2016. “A lot of cities are afraid to push back because they don’t want to be the target of Sacramento. We’re not afraid.”
Councilmember Tony Strickland said MAGA should not be considered a four-letter word. “They want to make MAGA a negative connotation. But President Ronald Reagan said it first. I do want to Make America Great Again.”
