All-Muslim city council bans pride flag

The ban is another example of the increasingly vocal opposition of religious Muslims in the United States to LGBTQ ideology.

By Thomas McKenna, The Washington Free Beacon

A Michigan city with an all-Muslim city council on Tuesday banned LGBTQ Pride flags and other “religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group flags” from flying on public property.

After more than three hours of intense public comment, the Hamtramck city council unanimously passed a resolution ruling only the American flag, the Michigan state flag, the Hamtramck flag, the Prisoner of War flag, and “the nation’s flags that represent the international character of our City” shall be flown.” About half of Hamtramck residents are Muslim, according to the Detroit Free Press, and 25 percent of the city is of Arab descent.

The ban is another example of the increasingly vocal opposition of religious Muslims in the United States to LGBTQ ideology. Earlier this month, Muslim and Christian parents in Montgomery County, Md., gathered outside the county’s public school headquarters to protest the end of a parental choice to opt out their children from reading books with LGBTQ content in school. A Democratic council member in the county drew criticism for saying at a school board meeting “some Muslim families [are] on the same side of an issue as white supremacists and outright bigots.”

In Dearborn, Mich, a city with a 42 percent Arab population, hundreds of Muslim and Christian parents spoke at an October school board meeting, calling for the removal of sexually explicit books from the school library.

Some GOP strategists see an opportunity to gain ground with Muslims on social issues. In 2018, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) won the south end of Dearborn with 93 percent of the vote. In 2022, she barely carried the area with only 53 percent, while Tudor Dixon, her Republican opponent, grabbed 46 percent.

During the public comment period in Hamtramck Tuesday night, two women kissed at the podium in protest of the resolution.

“You guys are welcome,” council member Nayeem Choudhury said. “[But] why do you have to have the flag shown on government property to be represented? You’re already represented. We already know who you are.”