A Michigan city council unanimously passed a resolution that will bar LGBTQ “Pride” flags from being flown on city property.
The Hamtramck City Council voted to pass the measure at a city council meeting Tuesday, after lengthy debate from both proponents and opponents of it. The city of Hamtramck is just outside of Detroit, Michigan, and approximately 40 percent of its residents are foreign-born, the highest immigrant population percentage of any city in Michigan. It’s the only city in the U.S. with an all-Muslim city council.
The resolution prevents “any religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group flags” from being flown on city property. Only five flags will be allowed to fly from city property: the U.S. flag, the state and local flags, the Prisoner of War flag, and a flag that portrays the various nations represented in Hamtramck’s population.
Multiple people showed up to the city council meeting to share their opposition to the proposed resolution. One LGBTQ couple gave a sarcastic presentation, mocking the city’s attitude toward LGBTQ people and ending with a kiss between the two of them.
“It is clear that you are either ignorant or hateful and spiteful,” a transgender attendee said.
Others attended the meeting to voice support for the measure and how it would affect the community.
“You don’t see my family saying, ‘We’re going to put the Lebanese flag down your throat,’” Hassan Aoun, a Dearborn activist, said. “You want to put up the gay flag at your house, then put it up at your house. Do not put it on city property and do not put it on our schools.”
The resolution states, “(Hamtramck) does not want to open the door for radical or racist groups to ask for their flags to be flown,” and that the purpose of this new measure is to help preserve the city’s equal treatment of residents, “with no discrimination, or special treatment to any group of people.”
“We are confirming the neutrality of the City of Hamtramck we decided to stay neutral,” Mayor Amer Ghalib told Fox 2 Detroit.
The council’s decision will not affect residents’ right to fly the Pride flag, or other such flags, from their own private property.
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