'A sense of betrayal': liberal dismay as Muslim-led US city bans Pride flags

Earlier DU threads:
• Metro Detroit cities rally behind LGBTQ+ residents after Hamtramck's Pride flag ban
• Hamtramck City Council {enclave within Detroit} bans Pride flag from city property

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Source: The Guardian

‘A sense of betrayal’: liberal dismay as Muslim-led US city bans Pride flags

Many liberals celebrated when Hamtramck, Michigan, elected a Muslim-majority council in 2015 but a vote to exclude LGBTQ+ flags from city property has soured relations

Tom Perkins in Hamtramck, Michigan
Sat 17 Jun 2023 11.00 BST
Last modified on Sat 17 Jun 2023 11.34 BST

In 2015, many liberal residents in Hamtramck, Michigan, celebrated as their city attracted international attention for becoming the first in the United States to elect a Muslim-majority city council.

They viewed the power shift and diversity as a symbolic-but-meaningful rebuke of the Islamophobic rhetoric that was a central theme of then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign.

This week many of those same residents watched in dismay as a now fully Muslim and socially conservative city council passed legislation banning Pride flags from being flown on city property that had – like many others being flown around the country – been intended to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

Muslim residents packing city hall erupted in cheers after the council’s unanimous vote, and on Hamtramck’s social media pages, the taunting has been relentless: “Fagless City”, read one post, emphasized with emojis of a bicep flexing.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/17/hamtramck-michigan-muslim-council-lgbtq-pride-flags-banned

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