The city council of Downey, known as the Beverly Hills of Latinos, voted against the raising of the rainbow flag on its municipal buildings next June when Pride month is celebrated around the world. LGBTQ+ community.
While Mayor Mario Trujillo and Councilor Horacio Ortiz voted in favor; Councilors Héctor Sosa, Dorothy Pemberton and Claudia M. Frometa voted against.
Therefore, this June the gay flag will not fly on the Downey City Hall building.
“This decision is the result of a motion presented by Resistencia Massiva (MassResistance), a hate group that approached the new councilors and convinced them to make this decision,” says Mario Trujillo, mayor of Downey.
MassResistance defines itself as a pro-family activist organization. He Southern Poverty Law Center It has been classified as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.
Mayor Trujillo affirms that it is a regrettable action because Downey was the first city in southeastern Los Angeles County to raise the gay flag, which showed that they were leaders in terms of equality and that everyone is treated equally.
“We had been waving the gay flag for three years; and sending the message that here in Downey, we were all welcome, no matter who you decided to love.”
So – he says – banning the pride flag from being placed on the Downey City Hall building is a setback and a step backwards.
“It hurts me because this is happening in my first year as mayor of Downey, and I am the first openly gay mayor,” he explains.
And there is even more, he says, that the decision not to allow the installation of the gay flag has forced him to change the location of his swearing-in ceremony as mayor.
“We were going to do it at City Hall, now we are going to take it on June 3, to the Los Angeles County Office of Education in Downey, where Supervisor Janice Hahn allowed us to fly the gay flag.”
He explains that the ban on flying the gay flag arose from the motion on the natural flying policy (Neutral Flight Policy) that was presented for a vote and that prohibits the flying of flags beyond the United States, California and local flags.
“An exception was made for the POW/MIA flag, Missing in Action (Missing in Action), which honors soldiers killed in wars, which we all agreed on.”
However, Mayor Trujillo points out that not making the same exception for the gay pride flag is a direct attack against the LGBTQ+ community living in Downey.
“Straight people, instead of worrying about our flag, should thank God that they don’t need a flag, and that they have never been judged for who they chose to love,” he says.
No hate
Councilwoman and former Downey Mayor Claudia M. Frometa, who voted against the raising of the gay flag, says that contrary to what the media has published, the decision to ban flags beyond the federal, state, and POW in local government buildings stems from the desire to serve all residents equitably and fairly.
“We cannot fly just any flag that represents every group in our community, whether Christians, Israelis, Palestinians or others. “Our decision has nothing to do with hate groups as has been reported,” she says.
In fact, he says they voted unanimously this week to fund the Downey Pride Festival this summer, and the group is welcome to fly their flag throughout downtown.
Neither hatred nor antipathy
Downey Councilman and Vice Mayor Hector Soto, who introduced the measure, says that as a Council, they represent the entire city, including the LGBTQ+ community, and the decision was about the entire community.
“We have been receiving requests from numerous residents to fly different flags such as the Christian, the Blue Lives Matter and recently that of Israel.”
He emphasizes that it is not their role as elected officials to choose the groups at which they should wave their flags but rather about equity in the community.
But don’t you consider that this vote hurts the LGBTQ+ community?
“What I can say is that we support them to such a degree that we at the Council just approved them for $25,000 in funding for their Downey Pride Festival in August.”
Make it clear that there is no hatred or antipathy from anyone on Council towards the LGBTQ+ community.
“They are part of the community and that’s how we see it. In all fairness, it is not a whim, or anything related.”
Surprise and disappointment
Ari Arambula, founder of the Latino Equality Alliance (LEA) says she was surprised by the ban, because they had had a lot of community support from the Downey Council toward the LGBTQ+ community in recent years.
“We have a pride festival and families, including Latinas, are increasingly supportive of our LGBTQ+ youth and equal marriage.”
He considers the ban disappointing and hurtful.
“At the same time, it alerts us to negative and incorrect attitudes and assumptions about our community that try to say we have no support when the flag is a symbol of support.”
He adds that they have the support of the entire community and families who want LGBTQ+ youth to feel supported.
“I understand that this motion against the pride flag came from an outside group; and what we have learned is that we need to get ahead of ourselves. In this fight, we cannot take it for granted that they will support us and let us put up the flag of pride. This refusal does not affect us physically or financially, but it was about how the city and government showed support for diversity and respect for equity and equality.”
He says he hopes the councilors will realize their mistake.
“If nothing else, it’s nice to know that the Downey Pride Festival is going ahead.”
Downey is the second Southern California city to adopt a similar flag ban policy. The first was Huntington Beach in Orange County.
They accept your participation
In an interview with Channel 4 television in Los Angeles, Arthur Schaper, field representative of MassResistance confirmed the group’s involvement in the effort to change the flag policy in Downey.
“Downey residents approached us to help them remove the pride flag and restore a neutral flag policy,” Schaper said.
As he noted, residents do not want the LGBTQ+ agenda to be imposed on their families and children in the public square.”
He also said that calling them a hate group “is obscene, offensive and defamatory.”