Huntington Beach soon will join several other Orange County cities in hoisting the LGBTQ flag at City Hall.
Council members voted 6-0 Monday, May 3, to fly the rainbow-striped banner for almost six weeks. The flag will be raised on Harvey Milk Day, May 22, and continue waving through the end of June – LGBTQ Pride Month.
The rainbow flag is a symbol of welcome for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning individuals.
Other cities in the county that exhibit the banner during LGBTQ month include Irvine, Santa Ana and Anaheim. Since 2019, it has flown year-round at the Orange County Fair & Event Center.
Councilman Erik Peterson did not attend the meeting Monday. Over the past year, he has repeatedly complained about the increasingly progressive city council taking up social justice issues, arguing that anti-hate declarations are ineffective.
“I just can’t vote for something that doesn’t do anything, or just because it feels good,” Peterson said in early April about the passage of a declaration condemning white supremacy.
On social media, and at the May 3 meeting, some Huntington Beach residents agreed with that sentiment.
“I’d like to beg this council to please focus on doing the job you were elected to do, which is overseeing public safety, financial solvency and infrastructure,” said Cari Swan, who phoned into the Zoom meeting.
“Folks that fall under your divisive category deserve to be viewed like everyone else in this community under one flag – the flag of the United States of America,” Swan argued. “They don’t need your pity or polarization.”
However, most of the dozen speakers supported the agenda item, authored by Mayor Kim Carr and Councilman Dan Kalmick.
Councilwoman Natalie Moser said that much of the criticism she saw on Facebook pages about the flag suggested that council members needed to concentrate on “the real work at hand.”
“We can do more than one thing at a time; we can rub our bellies and pat our heads,” Moser countered, adding, “Our job is to improve the public health and public safety of the community.”
Carr and Moser read aloud letters they had received from young people who are transgender or gay. “I thought I would tell you what that flag means to me as a nonbinary 12-year-old,” one child wrote. “It means you see me. And it means I am perfect the way I am.”
Councilman Mike Posey admitted that he had intended to vote differently, but was swayed, in part, by those who oppose the city’s decision.
“I saw on social media that the pursuit of social justice is not our job, and I have to disagree,” Posey said. The city council, he asserted, is tasked with “ensuring that our friends and neighbors have a high quality of life and part of that high quality of life is to know that where they moved the welcome mat is out.”
Earlier in the evening, Kelly Miller, president of Visit Huntington Beach, discussed rebooting tourism in the city after the coronavirus shutdown. In her comments, Councilwoman Barbara Delgleize said his presentation dovetailed into the LGBTQ flag debate – and the economic benefits of softening Huntington Beach’s image altogether.
“This community is tough,” Delgleize said. “It is not an easy place if you disagree with somebody… We have an opportunity this summer to really knock it out of the park in so many ways – to fill our hotels, beaches, restaurants. This kind of spirit is really what could make a difference.”
