“There is no federal or state regulations that prohibits such conduct, so why is the town proposing a local policy that would prohibit showing support for the Queer community on town owned flagpoles?” “The timing of the proposed flag policy is odd,” said Hardy-Doubleday in the press release. The addition of the proposed flag policy into the same board meeting as the one that will involve the request to raise the Pride flag has caused some raised eyebrows.
The suggested flag policy cites that “the choice of which flags to raise on town flagpoles is government speech,” to which the First Amendment does not apply, and in effect cannot “designate town flagpoles as a public forum by permitting third parties to raise flags.” The new policy will prohibit any flags, other than those approved by the select board - flags of the United States of America, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, town of Oak Bluffs, and official military and POW-MIA - from being raised on any town property.ĭepending upon the results of a vote to implement the town’s new flag policy, the request for the Pride flag to be flown on town property may be moot.
