An all-Muslim city council in suburban Detroit has unanimously voted to ban LGBTQ+ flags from city property.
The Hamtramck City Council’s vote came after a tense, nearly four-hour debate Tuesday night, during which one woman — bizarrely wearing a comedy red nose — smooched a woman with her in protest of the ban.
“You guys are welcome,” council member Nayeem Choudhury told the kissing women.
But “why do you have to have the flag shown on government property to be represented?” he asked.
“You’re already represented. We already know who you are.”
The vote ruled that the only flags allowed would be the Prisoner of War flag along with those representing city, state, America and any other nations representing the native countries of immigrant residents.
It only applies to city flagpoles, and businesses and residents can still fly other flags on their own property.
While it outlawed “any religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group flags,” the resolution was taken as a blatant attack on LGBTQ+ flags in the middle of Pride Month.
Hamtramck’s first Muslim mayor, Amer Ghalib, had made it a campaign issue after a Pride flag was flown on city property in 2021.
Some members of the all-Muslim council also said the Pride flag clashes with the beliefs of some members of their faith.
“We want to respect the religious rights of our citizens,” Choudhury said of the Detroit-area enclave’s 20,000 residents, more than 40% of whom were not born in the US. Most are of Yemeni or Bangladeshi descent.
The city councilman who sponsored the resolution, Mohammed Hassan, denied it was bigoted.
“We love everybody. We don’t hate anybody. We don’t discriminate (against) anybody. We are living very respectfully without hate,” he said.
Many of those opposing the resolution were not buying it, however.
“You can pretend that this resolution is meant to protect diversity, but you know very well that all it will do is encourage discrimination against the LGBTQ community,” one man told the meeting.
One opponent also angrily told the council that she “relocated from California to Hamtramck” because she “thought it was a diverse community.”
Detroit City FC, a professional soccer team that draws thousands of fans to games in Hamtramck, called the council’s decision “inexcusable.”
“Pride flags send a powerful message that all are welcome and that the community values diversity,” the team said on Twitter, asking the council to reconsider its ruling.
With Post wires
