Four House Democrats sued over Pride flag

SAN DIEGO — Four members of the House of Representatives have been sued for displaying a rainbow flag in the hallways outside of their Capitol Hill offices.

The plaintiff: Chris Sevier, an attorney who has an ongoing campaign against same-sex marriage and has also unsuccessfully sued states for the right to marry a laptop computer, to make a point about rulings on same-sex marriage.

The four lawmakers are Reps. Susan Davis and Alan Lowenthal of California, Don Beyer of Virginia and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. All are Democrats.

Sevier’s 38-page complaint asks the federal District Court in the District of Columbia to determine that “‘homosexuality’ and other forms of selfasserted sex-based identity narratives are a ‘religion,’ ” and that the colorful banners are a religious symbol for the “homosexual denomination.” He is seeking to force the members of Congress to remove the flags.

He’s asking for $1 in damages. House Counsel will represent the defendants.

Davis, who was served with the lawsuit this week, said the flag outside her office isn’t going anywhere and that the legal action only encourages her to double down on her support for equal rights for members of the LGBTQ community.

Word of the lawsuit has brought defenders to her side, Davis said.

“The amazing response we’ve gotten has been overwhelmingly supportive,” she said.

The flag outside of her office has been up since March 2015, and some other members who have heard of the lawsuit have asked where they too can get a flag to display outside of their own office, Davis said.

In addition to the rainbow flag hanging from a pole, Davis’ office also displays the U.S. and California flags.

Besides demanding that the flags be removed from the hallways, Sevier also asked the court to overturn Supreme Court rulings that ended a prohibition against sodomy and federal policies that only recognized opposite-sex marriages, as well as Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling that found that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry.

Further, he said the members who displayed the flag should be removed from office.

“The Defendants know or should know that they are advancing a threat to Democracy ... to the point that they are unfit to hold office and should be removed for cause for representing an internalized danger to National Security interests,” he said.