DETROIT − A Michigan city council banned LGBTQ Pride flags from being displayed on all city properties Tuesday night after months of debates.
The Hamtramck City Council voted unanimously on the resolution, introduced by Mayor Pro Tem and Councilman Mohammed Hassan, which also prohibits the display and flying of flags with racist and political views, according to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Hassan and other members of the council said LGBTQ people and others are welcome in Hamtramck, but need to respect religious freedom. Proponents of the resolution said the Pride flag clashes with their faith, and argued American soldiers sacrificed for the U.S. flag, not the Pride flag.
Before the vote, Hassan blasted critics of the resolution for not respecting the views of Hamtramck residents.
“Please don’t threaten us … I’m the elected official … I’m working for the people, what the majority of the people like,” Hassan said.
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LGBTQ debate in Hamtramck stretch back 15 years
Hamtramck, whose population jumped 27% from 2010 to 2020, has the highest percentage of immigrants among cities in Michigan and is the only city in the U.S. with an all-Muslim city council and mayor. About half of the city is either of Yemeni or Bangladeshi descent.
Tuesday’s vote was the latest in an ongoing debate stretching back 15 years over LGBTQ rights in Hamtramck.
In 2008, conservative Christians launched an effort to defeat a ballot proposal in Hamtramck that would have protected gay rights by reaching out to the city’s Muslim community to hold rallies and defeat the proposal backed by LGBTQ advocates.
In 2021, then-Mayor Karen Majewski flew the Pride flag outside city hall, which drew criticism from challenger Amer Ghalib who defeated her. On Tuesday, Ghalib spoke out in favor of Hassan’s resolution.
“We serve everybody equally with no discrimination, but without favoritism,” Ghalib said.
Three city council seats are up for election this year in Hamtramck.
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Resolution ‘sends a clear message of discrimination,’ Hamtramck resident says
A majority of the public comments submitted by email and read by Hamtramck City Clerk Rana Faraj at the meeting opposed the resolution.
LGBTQ people and their supporters said the resolution would push them out of Hamtramck and reduce investment in the city. They called the resolution backwards and bigoted.
“The LGBTQ community is the life blood of our organization,” executive director of Planet Ant Theatre in Hamtramck Darren Shelton said at the meeting. “I don’t think sexuality is a political issue.”
Hamtramck resident Hayley Cain said the resolution “sends a clear message of discrimination.”
“The Pride flag represents making space for all humans on all the spectrums and this is where we’re going as a human species,” she said. “You can’t stop that.”
Some people said Muslim immigrants, who faced discrimination when they immigrated to Hamtramck, should be more sensitive about discriminating against other groups.
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Surge in Pride flags stolen, burned in the past month
In the past month, Pride flags have been stolen, slashed or burned in at least five states – California, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
On June 2, a masked man in Omaha set fire to a Pride flag being displayed outside a home in what’s being investigated as a hate crime, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said.
In another suspected hate crime in Tempe, Arizona, someone took down a Pride flag outside the Phoenix suburb’s city hall and burned it.
Contributing: Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY
