Just weeks after the Downey City Council passed a “neutrality” policy effectively barring the LGBTQ+ Pride flag from city facilities, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn on Monday, June 3, joined dozens of supporters in a Pride flag-raising ceremony in celebration of Pride Month, where they raised the flag at one of eight county sites in Downey.
Hahn, who represents the county’s Fourth District, which includes Downey, was joined outside the L.A. County Office of Education by openly out elected officials such as Downey Mayor Mario Trujillo and County Assessor Jeffrey Prang and throngs of pride allies, riled after last month’s 3-2 council vote to allow only American, Californian, and prisoners-of-war flags on city maintained property.
The event was briefly interrupted by a protester, who stepped in front of Hahn and chanted as she began her speech, before being escorted away by Trujillo after a chorus of boos.
“Today is about love over hate, today is about peace over divisiveness,” she said when the crowd began to jeer the protester. “Today is about coming together, and even as maybe we don’t like certain people, today is about how we love everyone.”
Trujillo, who along with Council member Horacio Ortiz voted against the May 14 resolution, shared his personal struggles in coming out at age 32 and the importance of having the support that the flag symbolizes.
“It means in Downey, you’re safe,” he said. “Pride was not born out of a need to celebrate. Pride was born out of a need to survive.”
He also admonished his fellow council members who voted for the policy.
“They hide behind neutrality, and I tell them, you are wrong,” he said. “You are failing to represent the people, everyone who you promised you were going to protect, you are failing the residents of Downey…and that’s just shameful.”
The move was first brought forward by Mayor Pro Tem Hector Sosa in April, who said it was not meant to single out the LGBTQ+ community, adding that it would apply across the board to Blue Lives Matter or Israeli flags, for example.
It limits the flags flown on City-owned flagpoles to the following flags: (1) the United States Flag, (2) the California state flag, (3) the City of Downey flag, and (4) the Prisoners of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) flag,” according to a statement from Axel Perez-Beltran, a spokesman for the city.
At the May council meeting, Sosa said that discussing neutral flag policies is “by no means an attempt to silence or spite anyone.” He added that he’s been approached by community members to raise up Christian flags, Blue Lives Matter flags, even an Israeli flag.
In an emailed statement Monday, the city of Downey said the ceremony did not fall under its jurisdiction.
Sosa and Councilmember Dorothy Pemberton, who also voted in favor of the neutral flag policy, did not immediately respond to reporters’ requests for comment. Councilwoman Claudia Frometa, who also voted in favor of the neutral policy, said in an email that she had no comment.
Back in May, leaders who voted in favor of the “neutral” policy, shared their reasoning.
“I don’t think it’s our role as elected officials to pick and choose which groups get to fly their flags. Our role is to simply govern, and govern for the residents of the county,” Sosa said. “It’s my opinion that the only flags should be displayed on the American flag, city flag and POW flag.”
Hahn said the council’s vote was “painful” for many LGBTQ+ residents, but reminded people in attendance Monday that the county government “sees you.”
Prang, a former mayor of the West Hollywood and current president of the Los Angeles County LGBTQ+ Elected Officials Association, called the neutral flag policy an “egregious policy.”
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He recalled that, when he first moved to California from Michigan in 1987, seeing the Pride flag raised it made him feel safe.
“Here’s the value for LGBTQ+ people, especially our young, will know that when they see these flags flown by government — county government facilities across the 4,500 square miles that constitutes L.A. County — they will know that L.A. County is a safe and welcoming place,” Prang said.
The Los Angeles City Council last week updated its flag policy to allow the Progress Pride Flag at L.A. city facilities.
The Downey controversy over the Progress Pride Flag is not the first in the state.
In March, more than 58% of voters in Huntington Beach approved a ban on nongovernmental flags, including those for Pride Month, being flown on city property.
At least two California school districts, in Temecula and the Bay Area community of Sunol, have also banned Pride Flags.
The Progress Pride Flag was created in 2018 by graphic designer Daniel Quasar. It retains the common six-stripe rainbow design of the original gay pride flag, but adds black, brown, light blue, pink and white stripes to symbolize other marginalized people, including the Black and Indigenous communities and other people of color, and people who have died from or are currently living with HIV/AIDS.
The first Pride Flag debuted at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978. At the encouragement of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay person be elected to public office in California, artist Gilbert Baker designed the flag to symbolize the value and dignity of the gay community.
In June 2021, the City Council voted to display the Pride Flag as a commemorative flag during the month of June going forward. The vote last month — supported by Council members Dorothy Pemberton and Claudia Frometa — effectively overturned that decision by disallowing commemorative flags.
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City News Service contributed to this story.
