NEWCASTLE, Wash. — The Newcastle City Council voted not to raise the Pride flag at City Hall for the month of June.
A motion to raise the flag failed with a 4-3 vote during Tuesday night's city council meeting.
Mayor Robert Clark, who voted against the motion, said when he was elected by the council in January, he "made a rule that we were not going to do proclamations."
"If we say you have to support this because we proclaimed it, but certain people in the community say no, then we are dis-servicing a portion of the community," he said.
June is Pride Month, which recognizes people identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ+).
Clark said the "most unifying symbol in the history of the world" flies at City Hall everyday — the American flag.
"That's diverse enough for me," Mayor Clark said. "That includes everybody in the community, everybody. Nobody is left out with the American flag."
Clark further justified his reasoning by citing an issue in the City of Boston. In a 2022 opinion in the cast of Shurtleff v. City of Boston, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the city violated the First Amendment when it refused to allow a religious organization to raise a flag at City Hall. The city previously had a program that allowed organizations to apply for permits to raise a flag of their choice on a city-owned flagpole.
Clark said if Newcastle raises a flag for one cause, the city would have to start raising a flag for everyone; he cited Hamas, MAGA and former President Donald Trump as examples.
Boston has since revised the city's process for flag raisings, requiring a city council resolution or mayoral proclamation to be required for a flag to be raised.
Councilmember Paul Charbonneau was the one to make the motion. Sun Burford and Ariana Sherlock also voted in favor. Those who voted against were Deputy Mayor Pratima Lakhotia, Tom Griffin, Steve Tallman and Mayor Clark.
You can watch the full discussion on the Pride flag during the Newcastle City Council meeting below: