Two weeks ago the city council of Dublin, California voted 3-2 to reject a proposal to fly a pride flag over city hall during the month of June, Pride month. According to ABC, in response to the vote, Dublin Mayor David Haubert said:
We took a vote and voted it down, not because we don’t support the LGBTQ community, because we couldn’t really decide on how best to do it.
Issues were raised during the council meeting in May because residents felt if the rainbow flag were to be flown, so should other flags that identify residents of other subgroups. Residents who attended the meeting posed questions about flying Black Lives Matter, Confederate, Communist, and NRA flags. Being confronted by this, Dublin council needed a strategy.
After their vote to reject the proposal, the city council developed an official policy for flying commemorative flags. At Tuesday’s council meeting, the policy was adopted with a unanimous vote after hearing almost 30 public comments speaking about this agenda item. A win for yet another California city that joins in the celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.
Some residents blamed city council for lies and judgments passed on about the city being intolerant or homophobic. To these comments, Haubert responded:
We didn’t do that, I didn’t do that. I failed to do that and sort of stand up and protect people who felt intimidated and targeted by those comments.
The Pride flag will fly over Dublin City Hall for 30 consecutive days until July 3rd.
Check out the video of the flag raising ceremony: