After two years of flying the LGBTQ rainbow pride flag, the City of Delano is putting a stop to it.
Delano is the second city in the state to walk back its decision to fly the pride flag after Huntington Beach chose to rescind its own policy in February.
The backstory: The Delano City Council originally voted by a 3-2 margin in 2021 to fly the rainbow flag at City Hall.
- The only other non-governmental flag Delano allowed to be raised on the city’s flagpole was for International Firefighter’s Day.
The big picture: This time around the council voted 3-1 to disallow the pride flag for the third week of May, the time when it was flown over the past two years.
- The decision came after significant public discussion from people on both sides of the issue.
Driving the news: One of the major changes from two years ago was the absence of former mayor Bryan Osorio.
- Osorio was a proponent of the pride flag in 2021, but he left office in December and works as a city planning commissioner.
What they’re saying: Delano Mayor Joe Alindajao voted to remove the pride flag from the schedule, saying that affirming one group marginalizes another. He also said that any non-governmental flag should not be flown, including the flag for International Firefighter’s Day.
- “Government doesn’t have the power to affirm a group or make it feel inclusive,” Allindajao said. “People do that.”
- Councilman Mario Nunes voted against the flag two years ago and held the same position this time around.
- “I truly believe the only flag that should be flown is the American flag, the state flag and the (prisoner of war) flag,” Nunes said.
