Hamtramck mayor poses near Pan-African flag after gay pride controversy
Days after helping ban gay pride and other flags from Hamtramck property in a move he said aims to keep the city neutral, Mayor Amer Ghalib is being accused of selective enforcement for allowing a Black pride flag to fly at a city park.
Photos of Ghalib were posted on his Facebook page Sunday standing near a red, black, and green Pan-African flag at a Juneteenth celebration in Hamtramck’s Veterans Park. The flag ban passed last week by a unanimous city council and with Ghalib’s support prevents “any religious, ethnic, racial, political, sexual orientation group flags” from being “flown on the city’s public properties.”
The rule follows rising religious-fueled tensions over a rainbow flag near City Hall. It was implemented during the first Pride Month since the Hamtramck City Council and mayoral posts included all Muslim officials. Members of Hamtramck’s LGBTQ+ community charge it’s discriminatory, pointing to Ghalib’s flexibility for another group’s flag as further evidence.
"The flag ban is already being selectively enforced," said Atlas Songbird, of the Hamtramck Queer Alliance. “We really hope the mayor and city in general can begin giving the LGBTQ community the same respect they do all of the other diverse communities that are here in Hamtramck.”
Ghalib has previously insisted “we are not targeting one group or another” and taken aim at "politicians who … criticize us," saying “you do not know our city more than we do, and you will not know the consequences of opening the door for every group to fly their flag on city properties.”
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He told the Free Press on Friday that an exception was made for the flag designed by the late Black nationalist Marcus Garvey because the Juneteenth event was planned long before the resolution passed and organizers compromised with city officials. They flew the flag in a more muted manner than originally intended, taping it to the post of a park pavilion rather than flying it on a march and later a pole, he said. Moving forward, Ghalib said, such displays will not be allowed.
The flag saga has inflamed tensions in the small, densely populated city made up of minority groups with at-times conflicting values, where Muslims make up the majority. Songbird and a former councilmember, Catrina Stackpoole, say LGBTQ+ discrimination has spiked, with pride flags increasingly being torn down and gay slurs hurled at queer residents.
Ghalib, however, says he’s trying to keep the peace, and that the ban is a part of that.
“If we fly that pride flag — we would see so many flags around the city with weird colors, like black, with messages people don’t like,” he said Friday. “If I allow you, I have to allow everybody else and … the majority of people here do not support the Pride flag and they would fly their own flags in response.”
He blamed the LGBTQ+ community’s “overreaction” for “making the situation worse.” A protest is planned for Saturday at City Hall. Those supportive of the ban planned to counter-demonstrate, he said, before he convinced them not to.
“We’re doing our part to maintain security in the city, but I don’t think the others are doing their part," Ghalib said.
Contact Violet Ikonomova: vikonomova@freepress.com or 571-295-8451.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hamtramck allows Pan-African flag after pride flag ban
