New Canaan bans flags that aren’t town, state or U.S. on town property
‘We are a member of this country and this state and this community’
New Canaan’s three-flag policy is similar to the one approved in the neighboring town of Darien ... Town policies like Enfield’s allow POW/MIA flags while Greenwich approved a policy that continues to allow community flags to fly on town property.
NEW CANAAN — Following in the footsteps of neighboring communities, New Canaan officials adopted a policy to limit which flags can fly on town property.
On Tuesday morning, the New Canaan Board of Selectmen approved a policy to fly only the U.S., Connecticut and New Canaan flags at municipal properties. The town’s policy does not include Board of Education properties.
First Selectman Dionna Carlson said she wanted to bring the policy forward after she was approached during her first week in office about flying “another country’s liberation flag.”
Carlson said she strongly believed the only flags that should be represented on town government property were those representing the country, state and town to avoid having the government make calls about which flags get to fly when.
“I don’t want anybody to feel like I don’t support their cause when they ask me to fly a flag,” Carlson said. “It shouldn’t be anything about my (or) any of our personal opinions about any issues. … Our flagpole should not be a speech mechanism. It is a recognition that we are a member of this country and this state and this community.”
Flag policies have become a growing trend in cities and towns across the country, many triggered by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the city of Boston violated the First Amendment by rejecting an application to fly a Christian flag.
New Canaan’s three-flag policy is similar to the one approved in the neighboring town of Darien, which Carlson specifically referenced during the meeting. Town policies like Enfield’s allow POW/MIA flags while Greenwich approved a policy that continues to allow community flags to fly on town property.
Flag policies, including Darien and Enfield’s policies, have come under criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates and some state officials for prohibiting the Pride flag.
While Carlson initially proposed a mechanism to consider flying military flags, Selectman Amy Murphy Carroll suggested limiting it to just the three to “keep it really tight to New Canaan.”
Carroll said she had nothing against flying flags to honor the military, saying members of the military would be represented by the American flag.
“If you have kind of a just tight policy, then we’re not picking one person’s interest over somebody else’s interest and dividing people,” she said.
Selectman Steve Karl agreed with Carroll on limiting the policy to the three flags, saying as a community New Canaan does “an excellent job recognizing the military.”
“We have the plaques downstairs; God’s Acre is another spot that has a flagpole where we could say, ‘Hey, that’s the appropriate spot for recognition of military,’” Karl said. “Keeping it tight — that’s what this draft and the idea behind the policy is.”