Pride flag won’t fly on Fresno County flagpoles. These are the only two approved now

A new ordinance that won preliminary approval Tuesday from the Fresno County Board of Supervisors would permit only the U.S. flag and the California state flag to be flown on official flagpoles at any county-owned or operated building, park or facility, to the exclusion of all other flags – including those that would be raised for ceremonial or commemorative occasions.

But before the unanimous 5-0 vote by supervisors, public comment showed the wide variance in perspective over what kind of message the ordinance sends to the community.

The ordinance’s author, Supervisor Steve Brandau, first proposed the measure earlier in May, expressing concern for potential pushback over requests to fly other flags for ceremonial observations or other occasions.

“I’ve just noticed an increasing number of controversies involving ‘specialty’ flags flown at government buildings,” Brandau said Tuesday. “It creates a situation where the (government) body makes choices of favoritism of who gets permission and who does not.” Brandau, who served on the Fresno City Council before he was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2019, previously talked about the potential for controversy from the city’s willingness to fly a variety of flags for various constituencies.

“I have had many conversations about this in recent years,” Brandau told The Fresno Bee earlier this month. “Almost everybody I have spoken to feels that the American flag and the state of California flag are enough on government buildings.”

An American flag flew on a flagpole atop the Fresno County Hall of Records building in downtown Fresno on Tuesday as the Board of Supervisors met inside.

But four other nearby flagpoles in Courthouse Park bore no flags at all – not the American flag, not the California state flag, nor any other flag, banner or pennant.

While Brandau’s ordinance, which will come back for final board approval on June 6, would bar any flags except the U.S. and California flags, it would not require any flags to be raised on those vacant flagpoles.

Some members of the public who spoke Tuesday criticized Brandau’s proposal as “small-minded” or “xenophobic” by forbidding flags, including for groups that have historically been marginalized.

Others, however, supported the ordinance, asserting that the national and state flags are representative of everyone in the county. Flying other flags, they said, could potentially sow division in the community.

Two blocks away, the city of Fresno frequently flies a variety of flags on the poles in front of City Hall to commemorate special dates, events, cultures and nations, including the Juneteenth flag.

Other flags that have been flown on flagpoles at City Hall at various times have included Mexico’s flag to commemorate that nation’s independence day in September; the rainbow Pride flag to recognize the lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBTQ+) community; the the city of Fresno “worked hard and crafted an inclusive policy” commemorating the freedom of African American slaves in Texas in 1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation; and the POW/MIA flag to remember military prisoners of war and service members who remain missing in action.

Dolores Huerta: A source of affirmation and acknowledgment

Dolores Huerta, a co-founder of the United Farm Workers and head of the Dolores Huerta Foundation which has an office in Fresno, said she believes flag-raising ceremonies underscore the diversity of Fresno County.

“When any of these communities want to fly a flag to commemorate whatever they want to commemorate, I think it’s nice to be able to affirm, to celebrate and acknowledge that we have such diversity here in this area,” Huerta said.

“We know there’s a lot of haters out there right now,” she added. “They’d like to pretend that some groups of people do not exist or should not be acknowledged.”

“It’s very small-minded to say, ‘No, only the American flag and California flag can be flown,’” Huerta told the board. “Be open-minded. We need this now more than ever.”

Hrair Messerlian, who resides in Brandau’s north Fresno district, noted that the Armenian flag-raising at Fresno City Hall last month represented “a place of honor” for Armenian-Americans such as him.

Messerlian said the city of Fresno “worked hard and crafted an inclusive policy” for a range of ceremonial flag events.

But the county’s proposal “is xenophobic and is not about policy or patriotism,” he added. “At best, it’s lazy and it’s ill-informed. At worst, it’s exclusionary, shameless, bigoted election-year pandering.”

U.S., state flags enough to represent everyone

Several other speakers, including Brent Burdine of Clovis and Tammy Richardson of Fresno, said they supported Brandau’s proposal.

Both the U.S. and California flags represent the ideal “for all of us to be treated equally as equal citizens,” Burdine told the supervisors. “It is meant to apply to everybody and embrace everybody.”

“When you deviate from that, we’re excluding people. When you elevate someone, you push somebody (else) away, …” he added. “These are the only two symbols of our nation and our state that bring all of us together equally.”

Richardson, who said she was raised in a military family, said she agreed that the U.S. and California flags “represent everyone here.”

“I think anytime having to pick and choose …would cause controversy and divisiveness by displaying different flags,” Richardson said. “I think the way we can be most inclusive is to have our American flag and California flag.”

Board members vote to approve proposed ordinance

All five county supervisors ultimately voted to approve the first reading of the ordinance.

“As I think about what these flags represent, I cannot think of any other flags that this county can fly that are more inclusive than those,” said Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who represents much of eastern Fresno County. “We are one United States of America and we are California, so having an opportunity to fly those flags … includes everyone, and I think that’s the goal of the board.”

Board Chairperson Sal Quintero, whose district includes the central and southern areas of the city of Fresno, said there are many other ways to recognize diverse groups that don’t involve raising flags.

Quintero noted statues in Courthouse Park commemorating Armenian folk hero David of Sassoon; Benito Juarez, one of Mexico’s earliest presidents; and civil rights champion Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; as well as a monument recognizing Hmong veterans.

“The thought is, for me, that supporting our brothers and sisters in what we do doesn’t really lie in flags or monuments or anything like that,” Quintero said. “It’s more what lies in our hearts and what we show on a daily basis.”

Quintero said he was voting for the ordinance because “there’s already existing places around Fresno County that these (flag-raising events) can be held to show support and attend celebrations.”

Disappointed by supervisors’ votes

Huerta told The Fresno Bee after the meeting that she was disappointed, but not necessarily surprised, by the supervisors’ votes.

“I think it was a cop-out, basically,” she said. “They can have a screening process, so if anyone was going to fly a flag that was offensive or divisive, they could just say ‘no.’”

Huerta attributed ordinances like the one crafted by Brandau to a growing wave of conservative prejudice “that goes back to flying the Pride flag and the LGBTQ movement” and discrimination against other religions, races or ethnic groups.

“I think not flying flags of different constituencies is a right-wing kind of movement,” she added. “When you fly a flag, then people pay attention. It’s information, education and awareness. Maybe it’s something that people didn’t know about before.”