In 2005, local St. Augustine Gay activists won a landmark First Amendment case against our City of St. Augustine – the result was a federal court order that saw Rainbow flags flying on our historic Bridge of Lions in honor of Gay pride from June 8-13, 2005.
Bigots fumed and picketed, while spewing 32 pages of Anonymice hate on the St. Augustine Record’s “Talk of the Town” website.
Scared-witless City Commissioners then voted 3-1 on June 13, 2005 to ban all but government flags from our bridge, with only Commissioner Joe Boles voting against. Now-Mayor Boles was the only Commissioner who voted correctly twice, respecting the First Amendment. With Susan Burk, he voted to allow the Rainbow flags. In Burk’s absence, he was the only Commissioner to vote against the transparently retaliatory move to ban all but government flags from our Bridge.
In honor of the upcoming monument to Rev. Andrew Young, we should fly 42 American flags from our Bridge and another seven along the Bayfront (where controversial former City Manager Bill Harriss had flagpoles removed after the federal court victory).
The City of St. Augustine is all about healing now – working to promote a national civil rights museum and finally doing right by our African-American communities of Lincolnville and West Augustine.
In the spirit of healing, our City of .St. Augustine should adopt the policy that was in effect until 2005: allowing non-profit community groups – including the 40th Accord, Lighthouse Museum, NAACP, Gay Pride, etc. – to fly flags from the Bridge for special occasions linked to our City’s history.
What do you reckon?
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