Central Huron won’t be flying Pride flags on its municipal flag poles.
The municipality received a request from Huron County Pride that it fly the flag in the month of June. But, Mayor Jim Ginn said the request was turned down.
“Council decided to stay with our current flag policy, which states that municipal, provincial or federal Canadian flags are what we fly on our poles and it’s restricted to that,” said Ginn.
Alison Segeren, director of the board for Huron County Pride, says while the decision was a let down, they’ll continue to work with their local partners on inclusion efforts.
“We’re disappointed and frustrated, but we’re not in the business of calling out municipalities or shaming everybody,” she says. “We realize the way forward is to come together and build some shared understanding. I think many of us share the same goals, especially municipal leaders, we want to serve our community. We want to make sure our community is safe and welcoming for everybody. So we think it’s an opportunity for cooperation and collaboration to move some of these ideas forward and we think we do that best when we work together.”
Ginn noted that Central Huron doesn’t have a problem with flying the flag.
“It’s just that once you do it for one, you’re obligated to do it for everyone and you can be inundated with requests,” he said. “So, we don’t make declarations for this month being this or this day being that. Our policy is not to fly other flags.”
He added there are all kinds of good causes, but the problem is once you start, you look discriminatory if you don’t do it for everyone.
Segeren, who was also sits on Goderich council, says they haven’t been inundated with flag requests after supporting Pride in their town.
“I’m new to municipal government, so from that lens, I haven’t seen a barrage of requests from dozens or hundreds of groups coming forward and asking us to fly different flags,” she says. “I know that it’s a logistical challenge for councillors and for staff but I think, if this is where our values lie and if we say that we are a diverse community and we want to be a safe and welcoming community for everybody, I think that we have to put some action to those verbal commitments.”
– with files from Eric Thompson
