Town bans Pride flag claiming it’s a gateway to letting the ISIS flag fly

Residents of a Connecticut town are incensed after the newly Republican-dominated town council banned the Pride flag from town-owned buildings – with one official even claiming that flying the Pride flag is a gateway to allowing terrorist groups like ISIS to fly theirs.

“ISIS could come in and want to display one, the IRA… basically anybody. You’d have to be content neutral and let everybody,” claimed Tom Tyler, interim town attorney.

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He said schools have become too focused on indoctrinating kids with “transgender ideology.”

On Monday night, the council voted 6-5 to approve a resolution allowing only military flags, American flags, and the Connecticut state flag to be flown on town property – a move many believe was made directly to prevent public spaces from flying the Pride flag.

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In fact, the resolution replaces a former 2022 policy that allowed Pride Flags to be flown during Pride Month at Town Hall, according to NBC Connecticut.

“I was shocked and dismayed because I feel that our town hall should be representative of everybody in our town,” said resident Donna Pearlman.

Greg Gray, pastor of a local church and president of Enfield Pride, said he’s “disturbed that the new Republican majority felt this was a decision they needed to make basically on day one of them coming into office.”

Another LGBTQ+ advocate, Brandon Jewell of PFLAG Enfield, pointed out that the vote was especially disappointing considering two of the Republican council members voted in favor of the 2022 resolution that allowed the Pride flag to be flown.

He added that not enough forethought was given regarding the consequences of the new policy.

“The meaning of buildings, that you can’t be inside any town-owned property… so that’s the schools where many of the teachers have safe space stickers on their doors, they have Pride flags hanging,” he said.

Councilor Gina Cekala, who was passionately against the resolution, fought hard for it to be tabled until some of the language could be clarified, as she pointed out that councilors were not agreeing on exactly what kinds of buildings the law would affect.

Cekala had a contentious exchange with multiple councilors as she proposed an amendment to the policy so it applied only to government buildings and flagpoles, of which a majority voted in favor.

At one point in the meeting, Cekala also called out what she believes are the true anti-LGBTQ+ motivations of the Republican councilors that they are masking behind the need to be overall content-neutral. “I think the real reason is you don’t want that Pride flag up on this town hall,” she said, “which is absolutely disgusting,”

In the meantime, Enfield Pride is asking businesses and residents to show their support for LGBTQ+ people by flying Pride flags of their own.

“Let us be clear that Enfield Pride will continue to work every day to raise the visibility of the queer community in the town of Enfield,” the group said in a statement. “We will encourage Enfield businesses and citizens to display a flag during June and all year. Our hope is that even without a flag on town hall, you will see more rainbows this year than last.”

Make them see you! #EnfieldPride #LGBTQ pic.twitter.com/4FgYBOv5mf

— Enfield Pride (@EnfieldPride) January 9, 2024

PFLAG is also asking folks to attend a rally outside Town Hall on January 22nd, when the council will have its next meeting.

“Just show our councilors that we live here, we’re here,” Jewell told NBC. “We’re not going anywhere and we’re going to continue to fight.”