Sandwich board faces request to fly pro-life flag on town flagpole. Here's what happened.

SANDWICH — On Nov. 7, Sandwich town manager George "Bud" Dunham received an emailed request from the Pro-Life Flag Project to fly the organization's official flag on municipal property.

The flag shows pink and blue baby feet in the shape of a heart, and is surrounded with wording including “Pro-life," “Pro-mother," "Pro-father," and "Pro-child" in capital letters.

With a backdrop of vociferous protests throughout the United States over a variety of social and political causes, Dunham knew he had to get some advice.

His conversations with the town's attorney led the Board of Selectmen to adopt an official flag policy on Dec. 7 with no wiggle room: flags are limited to the American flag, state colors and the town flag.

"We weren't really worried about it (a flag policy) before but we had never been approached by anything that extreme," said Dunham by phone.

Without a flag flying policy, the town — and taxpayers — could become embroiled in a First Amendment lawsuit, said selectmen Chair Shane Hoctor during the Dec. 7 meeting.

There are other towns facing flag requests

Requests to fly organizational and political flags have increased across the country in the last few years, Dunham said. In North Andover, debate erupted between community members when the town agreed to raise the Israeli flag over its town common in October following the Hamas attack on Israel and the kidnapping of hundreds of Israeli citizens. The town agreed to raise the Palestinian flag a month later, according to a statement released by Melissa Rodrigues, town manager of North Andover. That triggered angry protests.

The events pushed the Select Board to vote to update the town's flag policy.

Rodrigues posted the new policy on the town's website: "The new policy limits the use of the flagpole to statements of governmental speech only, consistent with the (US Supreme Court's) Shurtleff decision. The new policy does not allow a resident to submit an application to raise a flag."In other towns, LGBTQ flags have been prohibited on public property and in classrooms.

In June, the Sandwich Board of Selectmen had voted to fly the Pride and Unity flag. But Dunham said flying flags from different social and political viewpoints every other week can become problematic.

"When we sent the email to town counsel for advice, they said we were the second town to contact them. By the time we talked to them a week later, they had heard from many other clients," said Dunham. "It's time for towns to address this now."

For his part Selectman Robert George is baffled by the flag flap.

"George Washington would roll over in his grave," George said.

"If you look back at what's good for the U.S., whoever would have thought we would be deliberating over this today," he said.

Are towns liable for lawsuits without a flag policy?

The Shurtleff vs. Boston court case was heard by the United States Supreme Court in May 2022. Harold Shurtleff, director of Camp Constitution, requested to fly what he described as a Christian flag at Boston City Hall, according to federal court documents. While the city regularly flew flags from a spectrum of political and organizational perspectives, city officials worried that Shurtleff's flag would violate what's known as the Establishment Clause to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits states from establishing an official religion. The city denied Shurtleff's request and he sued.

The justices concluded that Boston used selective enforcement, and based its refusal to fly Camp Constitution's flag on a religious viewpoint, which they say violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment.

The possibility of a lawsuit loomed in Sandwich, a town official said

In an email sent to Dunham by the Pro-Life Flag Project, Robert Joyce, director of the Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund, asked Sandwich officials a series of questions. One inquiry was if Sandwich had an official written or declared policy regarding who can fly a flag on municipality flagpoles. Dunham provided the email to the Times.The language was similar to other requests the town has received in the last few months from Washington D.C.-based lobbying firms, said Hoctor, the Board of Selectmen chair.

"Their requests are accompanied with a legal packet that they ask us to fill out. They are asking almost baited questions," he said. "Questions that could open you up for litigation."

James Chapman, a volunteer communications representative for the Pro-Life Flag Project, said in an email the idea to contact some cities and towns across the country was spearheaded by the Legal Defense Fund, which is based in Massachusetts.

"If all towns allow flags of other social movements (like the rainbow flag, trans flag, or thin blue line flag) to be flown at their municipal buildings, then they should allow the pro-life flag to be flown as well," said Chapman in the email.

What is Sandwich's official policy?

The flag policy, written by Hoctor and Assistant Town Manager Heather Harper, allows only the state, national and town flags to be flown on town-owned flagpoles.

The official Prisoner of War and Missing in Action or MIA-POW flag may also be flown, with prior approval of the Board of Selectmen and the town manager's office, on the town-owned flagpole at Eaton Memorial Park. The flag policy will apply to town-owned facilities, with the exception of public schools. Through a measure that was established in the 1970s, said Hoctor, the School Department must establish its own flag policy for its flagpoles.

People at their homes and private businesses can continue to fly any flags they like, said Dunham during the Board of Selectmen meeting.

Are other Cape Cod towns following suit?

In Provincetown, said Alex Morse, the town manager, there is no official flag-flying policy.

"In practice, we do not change the flag at Town Hall and simply fly the United States flag at all times," Morse said in an email.

When there are celebrations in town, flags and banners are placed by community groups and other organizations along main avenues of travel like Commercial Street, Provincetown Harbor and Pier, and at the Pilgrim Monument, said Morse.

Bourne has no flag policy currently under consideration, said Bourne Town Manager Marlene McCollem. But, she said, town officials are paying attention to how other communities handle flag-flying policies.

"Our town counsel recommended that we consider it," said McCollem.

Sandwich officials say lawsuit and political groups forced their hand

For Hoctor, it's a sad state of affairs when a town is moved to enact a flag flying policy.

"We have local civic groups that do positive things. This slams the door on everybody," he said.

Selectman R. Patrick Ellis said the "tough decision" is unfortunate, but necessary to keep people safe. "The number one goal, is to keep everyone safe, and accepted by providing a neutral position," said Hoctor.

Fortunately, said Hoctor, the bylaw isn't written in stone.

"If something changes down the road or there’s another court case that changes something, then we can take it up at that point," he said.

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Sandwich selectmen tighten restrictions on political, social flags