Council mulling new flag policy
In Wethersfield, all but government flags could be banned
The Wethersfield town council continued its discussion on whether Pride flags, religious, political or other types of flags should be flown on town-owned property as it looks to establish a flag policy at its meeting on Monday.
Several members voiced their support for banning all but four flags, including the U.S., Connecticut, town, and POW/ MIA flag from being flown.
The move to adopt a flag policy comes after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year found that the city of Boston violated a private organization’s First Amendment rights by refusing to raise a Christian flag outside of Boston City Hall, given that other flags had been allowed and the city did not have a policy in place for determining which flags could be flown on city property.
“What that ruling has done is put several municipalities in jeopardy in terms of what flags can be flown on town property,” said Frederick Presley, Wethersfield town manager. “It’s been recommended by the town attorney that we have a flag policy in place.”
Several other municipalities have also taken up the issue, including Southington and Coventry. Both towns banned flag requests and allow only official flags to be flown. Darien voted Monday to ban all but the official flags.
While the town’s flag policy is still being drafted by the town attorney and has not been finalized, language presented at the last council meeting allowed for the U.S., state and town flags to be flown with all other flags needing approval from the town.
“Changes were made based upon our last discussion, we added the POW/MIA flag along with the U.S. flag, state flag and town flag always allowed to fly,” said Presley. “We also added language to exclude public school property which will be at the discretion of the board of education. There has been a lot of back and forth in other towns over this issue so we wanted to stay away from that because this is really about town property.”
The decision to exempt public school grounds from the flag policy comes after the town of
Stonington removed gay Pride flags from classrooms earlier this year, causing outcry. The board of education there eventually allowed the flags to be reinstated in classrooms.
“Where do we limit it? If we allow flag requests, we open ourselves up to an unlimited number of requests,” said town council member Daniel O’connor. “I mean everyone can come up and ask for a flag to be flown. It’s not to minimize anyone’s flag but I do feel like we are just setting ourselves up for an unnecessary fight. We represent everybody, not just unique groups of people. I’m very comfortable allowing just the four official flags.”
Deputy Mayor Thomas Mazzarella agreed with O’connor but said he would like the language to clearly state that all four flags can be flown on all town property with the only exclusion of flags in classrooms.
“I don’t think we should differentiate school property from town property,” Mazzarella said. “I understand different flags may be displayed in classrooms for educational purposes. But if it’s a legitimate flag pole in front of the building it should be restricted to those four flags if on town property.”
Council member Matthew Forrest said he was concerned that if the town allows flag requests to be at the discretion of the council, it might escalate into constant political fighting.
“I support the Pride flag, that is an easy one. But what if we got into a gray area like a political flag or a more controversial flag,” Forrest said. “I think that can set up the council for an unneeded political fight and really opens up a can of worms.”
Council member Kevin Hill said that while he understands the legal impetus for the restrictive nature of the flag policy, he asked the council to consider adding the Pride flag since the town has already flown it at city hall in the past.
“Under the language being proposed, the LGBTQ community is left out,” Hill said. “The Pride flag would annually fly at the town hall. This policy would not allow us to do that anymore. The LGBTQ community is left out of here whether good, bad or indifferent. We should think hard about that.”
A motion was passed to move the flag policy issue to a public hearing set for the next town council meeting on Dec. 5.