Three years after first flying the LGBTQ+ Pleasure flag from Metropolis Corridor, the Downey Metropolis Council narrowly voted Tuesday throughout a six-hour assembly in favor of enacting a “impartial flag” coverage that strikes down such shows.
The three-2 affirmative vote amended the town’s coverage to permit solely the flying of america flag, the state flag, the town flag and the prisoner of battle flag.
Mayor Professional Tem Hector Sosa motioned and voted for the coverage change, as did Metropolis Councilmembers Dorothy Pemberton and Claudia Frometa. Downey Mayor Mario Trujillo and Councilmember Horacio Ortiz voted in opposition to.
Sosa mentioned his vote to place ahead the coverage was motivated by requests he mentioned he’s obtained from residents since he was elected into workplace two years in the past to hoist a wide range of flags, together with Christian, Blue Lives Matter, skinny blue line and Israeli flags.
“I don’t suppose it’s our function as elected officers to choose and select which teams get to fly their flags,” Sosa mentioned. “Our function is to easily govern and govern for the residents of Downey.”
Trujillo, who was was elected in April to the board of directors for the new Los Angeles County LGBTQ+ Elected Officials Assn., mentioned he was disillusioned within the vote. He additionally issued a warning to council members who’ve LGBTQ+ members of the family however voted in favor of the coverage. “You may relaxation assured that after tonight, they won’t contemplate you an ally,” he mentioned.
Trujillo known as the transfer “a step backward for our metropolis.” He mentioned the difficulty was solely led to due to a three-year campaign from the Downey chapter of the Massachusetts-based Mass Resistance, which refers to itself as a “pro-family activist group.” The Southern Poverty Regulation Middle labeled the group as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.
The group has additionally protested the close by well-being centers, which provide remedy, wellness workshops, substance abuse schooling and protected areas to deal with anxiousness on the metropolis’s excessive faculties as a result of they believed Deliberate Parenthood was concerned.
Huntington Seashore equally voted to eradicate Pleasure flags from flying on metropolis property and permitting solely a choose few banners in March. Like Downey, Huntington Seashore additionally first flew its Pride flag in 2021.
In April, San Gabriel disbanded its equity commission, which some council members noticed as pointless, regardless of pleas from LGBTQ+ activists.
Trujillo had a message to some members of the packed viewers that crammed the assembly.
“To the straight individuals, as an alternative of questioning why an LGBT flag is flying, be grateful that you simply don’t want a straight flag since you haven’t been persecuted,” he mentioned.
Frometa countered that the vote was “not an assault on anyone neighborhood” and that “we’re one nation and we salute our flag and that flag represents all of us.”
“I don’t need this message to be misconstrued and for the mayor’s feedback that this council’s choice is a direct assault to the LGBTQ neighborhood,” she mentioned. “That’s unfaithful.”
The council’s previous policy was adopted in August 2022 and known as for the flying of the 4 accredited flags at metropolis -owned or -operated amenities. Further “commemorative flags” might solely be displayed by Metropolis Council approval.
Town outlined commemorative flags as flags that “symbolize a historic occasion, trigger, nation, or group of those who the town council chooses to honor or commemorate.”
That coverage took place after the council voted to show the Pride flag for June 2021.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose space covers Downey, issued an announcement on Wednesday afternoon, partially saying she “was disillusioned within the Downey Metropolis Council’s choice, and I fear in regards to the message it sends to LGBTQ+ residents in Downey.”
She mentioned the flag wouldn’t disappear from the town, nevertheless, and may very well be seen on county property inside the metropolis, together with on the Los Angeles County Workplace of Schooling, the county’s library headquarters and Los Amigos Golf Course.
“Fortunately, the Pleasure Flag will nonetheless fly over Downey this June,” she mentioned. “My colleagues and I put in place a brand new coverage final yr to fly the Pleasure flag in any respect county amenities each June — together with our eight county amenities in Downey.”
Final yr, Hahn and the board additionally voted to fly the Pleasure flag on the Kenneth Hahn Corridor of Administration constructing in downtown Los Angeles.
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