Newport flag policy aimed at preventing controversy draws controversy
NEWPORT — An effort from the city to establish a policy that would reserve its right to choose what flags it wants to fly on municipal flag poles faced scrutiny at a City Council meeting Wednesday night as several residents voiced concerns over the policy’s potential impact on marginalized voices.
“The purpose of the resolution is to make sure we can recognize and celebrate the different aspects of our community that we all embrace and to not have those moments marred by them turning into constitutional sideshows and showdowns on issues that are very clearly decided by the Supreme Court,” Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong told The Newport Daily News after the City Council meeting.
The resolution in question, passed unanimously by the council, asks for the city administrator and solicitor to help draft a policy on what flags the city is able to fly on its municipal flag poles. More importantly, the policy is designed to preserve the city government’s right to use its own flag poles as a way for the city to communicate messages it supports, rather than as a public forum where any person or group, from within or without the community, can use to spread any message they wish.
The resolution was presented as a response to a May 2022 Supreme Court decision, which decided that municipalities that don’t have a policy establishing the flying of nongovernmental flags as a form of governmental speech cannot reject to display any nongovernmental flag based on its content, as the flagpole is then considered to be for public expression instead.
When the resolution was presented, Councilor Angela McCalla and other residents who came forward to speak were concerned about how the policy might be used against marginalized voices. Additionally, McCalla was skeptical of the timing of the resolution, given that June, three months from when the resolution was brought forward, is when both the Pride flag and the Juneteenth flag have been flown at city hall.
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Khamsyvoravong clarified the timing of the resolution was so that the city could have a policy and procedure in place in time for June so the city would be able to fly the Pride flag.
“If we go down this path, rather than being able to fly the Pride flag as a celebration in support of our community, what this could turn into is a lightning rod constitutional issue if any other group decides to proceed forward with a request to fly a flag with a another value set that might be controversial or not consistent with this communities beliefs,” Khamsyvoravong said. “When it comes to Pride, I will be one of the first people to be out there in support of such a resolution (to fly the Pride flag), but what we’re trying to do here is set forward a pathway to be able to do that in a constitutionally compliant manner.”
Khamsyvoravong and City Solicitor Christopher Behan explained that, without establishing a policy, the city would not be able to fly nongovernmental flags without wading into potential legal liability as a result of the Supreme Court ruling. When Khamsyvoravong used the Nazi flag as an example of a flag the city would not want to fly on municipal poles, McCalla challenged that it would not be allowed based on hate speech, but Behan said, depending on the court which decides on it, they could still be charged with violating the first amendment if they reject that flag.
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Resident William Berchtold probed Khamsyvoravong to name groups that would request to fly a flag in Newport that the city would want to reject. Khamsyvoravong replied that he did not want to speculate as to who would want to fly a controversial or hateful flag at city hall, there are groups that intentionally seek out ways to test the limits of public forums such as municipal flagpoles. Berchtold also suggested the city should allow hate groups to come forward and request their flags be flown so they could identify hate groups in Newport and root them out.
“I’m happy as a member of the LGBTQ community to stand up here and say I want to be able to share my flag with the community,” Berchtold said. “I would be happy to see Nazis stand up here and say they live here in Newport, Rhode Island, and they want to fly their flag, but I’m willing to bet they’re not willing to do it.”
Khamsyvoravong noted that, absent the policy they want to draft, the aforementioned Nazis would not have to come forward and plead their case to fly their flag in order for their request to be fulfilled. Resident Rex LeBeau mentioned in their comments to the council that the typical process for requesting the Pride Flag be flown was just to send an email.
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Residents Ryan Patrick Kelly and Kendra Muenter came forward in support of establishing a policy, but warned that the city should be mindful in how it's crafted. Muenter went on to warn the council of how a formal process to request a flag be flown could discourage marginalized groups from making the request if they are supposed to plead their case in front of members of the public, some of whom might argue against their flags with bigoted rhetoric.
“What I don’t want to see is a marginalized community come forward before this council every time they want their flag flown and then they have to sit here and listen to just an hour of hate and bigotry,” Muenter said.
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport flag policy draws discussion at City Council meeting
