Still, residents took to the town’s local “Ask (Heber, Utah)” Facebook group to debate them. When Pride banners were installed along Main Street in Heber City this past June, there was less controversy than there had been the year prior, according to Mayor Potter. But with that said, more people signed up for flags than ever before and were more excited about showing love and support to the LGBTQ community than ever.” Heber City, Utah. “A number of people found their flags torn or written on or even lit on fire, which I think speaks to a more emboldened hatred. “It does seem like there was an uptick in stolen flags and particularly vandalized flags,” Horns said in an email to NBC News. This month, for National Coming Out Day on Oct. Horns estimated that about 10 percent of last year’s flags were stolen or vandalized. The flags were not all well-received: The group received backlash on social media from people accusing it of “forcing their beliefs” on local communities, according to the group’s founder, Lucas Horns. The group staked about 1,400 flags, and raised about $20,000, which it donated to local LGBTQ centers. Last year, Project Rainbow, a small Salt Lake City-based nonprofit, rented out rainbow flags for $14 that Utahans could stake in their lawns for the duration of their city’s Pride festivities. Throughout Utah, rainbow flags are becoming common and increasingly controversial. Minot has since banned flags other than the American flag until it decides on an official policy. Her speech was captured in a now-viral video posted online. Just last month, after some residents in Minot, North Dakota, voiced anger over a rainbow flag that was temporarily hoisted outside city hall, a lesbian council member came out publicly in fierce defense of the flag.
Dakota council member comes out as a lesbian during heated pride flag debate “It has pretty much eliminated the option of private citizens funding banners and requesting them to be hung on Main Street, unless they are able to get sponsorship from the city, the county or the chamber, and that sponsorship means some financial sponsorship,” she said. Heber City Mayor Kelleen Potter, the mother of two LGBTQ teens, opposed the ordinance. Due to the ongoing debate within the community over whether Pride banners are “political” speech, and since the new ordinance bans political banners, it’s unclear whether city officials will approve them next June. Any event or message promoted on the signage must be sponsored by Heber City, Wasatch County or the Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce, and events must be both nonpolitical and nonprofit. The new ordinance, passed in August, requires banner applications be reviewed by the city manager, with appeals submitted to the council for review.
#COMPANIES THAT BAN THE GAY PRIDE FLAG INSTALL#
“It feels like a slap in the face,” said Allison Phillips Belnap, 47, a local real estate attorney who raised $3,553 through a GoFundMe campaign to purchase and install the banners on city lampposts.