In a display of solidarity, the Arroyo Grande City Council collectively withstood pushback from some factions of the town and voted to fly the LGBTQ-plus Pride flag at City Hall for all of June.

The five council members were vocal about visibly supporting the LGBTQ-plus community during Pride month and beyond. Each of them highlighted the reasons for their approval, following a barrage of complaints from several residents, many of whom said that flying the Pride flag displayed bias.

"We see almost daily that the LGBTQ-plus community is treated differently and subjected to hate and violence," Mayor Pro Tem Kristen Barneich said. "I know if you're a white male, a straight male, you might not notice that."

At a recent City Council meeting, Barneich requested to acknowledge Pride Month and to fly the Pride flag in support of the marginalized community and to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York. Mayor Caren Ray Russom agreed, and it was brought forward as a consent agenda item on May 24. This will be the third year that Arroyo Grande has flown the Pride flag, joining the cities of San Luis Obispo, Grover Beach, and numerous others throughout California.

But the issue was pulled from the consent agenda after many community members expressed their disapproval of flying the flag. The City Council received a deluge of public correspondence. On May 22 and 23, more than 70 pages of letters flooded in as public comment on the item. While a few expressed support for the flag and the LGBTQ-plus community, the majority demanded that only the United States, California, and Arroyo Grande city flags be displayed. Some even wondered why a "Christian flag" couldn't also be showcased.

One of them was Darsie Cole, who wrote a letter and echoed its statements during the public comment period at the meeting.

"Can we please hang a white pride flag? I'm joking, but how un-American that sounds," Cole wrote. "I am writing to voice my opposition to the city of Arroyo Grande's decision to fly a 'gay pride' flag at City Hall. As hanging a white pride flag would be, hanging a Pride flag is also un-American."

She continued, writing that there are only two genders, and that "no one should be obligated to address those of some imagined gender by some imagined pronoun."

Community member Logan Wais compared flying the Pride flag to promoting sexual acts.

"Do you want other organizations who want their other sexual fetishes knocking on your door demanding you to fly their flag next year?" Wais wrote. "The bestiality group, minor-attracted people group, trans movement."

At least two letters of opposition came in from Catherine and Elliot Talley. Catherine called the flag an "ungodly symbol," while Elliot wrote that there is a "trend" in the LGBTQ-plus community that encourages kids to "get brutal sex changes." Another letter came in from "Bryon Talley" in the form of a template headlined "Sample Letters Against Flying LGBTQ Flag."

Brian Talley, the president and CEO of Talley Farms, took to Facebook to issue a clarification on May 25.

"These comments expressed opinions that are not consistent with my views or the views of the Talley Family as a whole," he wrote on the Talley Farms Fresh Harvest page. "In every family, there are members who have differing opinions and our family is no different."

Referring to the letter template, Mayor Russom told New Times that the opposition appeared to be coordinated. While the City Council has received pushback during the two previous times it's approved flying the Pride flag, Russom said it's never been as heated as it was this year.

"I feel very strongly to classify this [approving to fly the flag] as an action of love and tolerance," she said.

Flying a flag at government structures is a complex process. Arroyo Grande's flagpoles, for example, can only be used by city officials. Only a City Council member can recommend considering a flag for display, and a second council member must approve that motion. That suggested flag can then only be hoisted once four of the five council members green-light it.

The city staff report stated that Arroyo Grande's flagpoles are not platforms of free expression for the public.

"The city will not display a commemorative flag based on a request from a third party, nor will the city use its flagpoles to sponsor the expression of a third party," it read.

A frequent statement from community members opposing the Pride flag was that displaying it wasn't necessary because all individuals are treated equally in the United States. The opinion comes at a time when a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country. As of May 31, 491 such bills are circulating in different states, according to the latest data from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Support for the LGBTQ-plus community and outrage at the pushback the flag received flooded social media platforms. Many subscribers of the Talley Farms produce boxes took to Reddit to declare they're canceling their subscriptions. Under a post titled "A lot of people feel comfortable putting their names on some bigotry in AG," people claimed that representatives of Harvest Church and Nationwide Home Loans also opposed the flag.

At the May 24 meeting, a 15-year-old Arroyo Grande High School student implored the city to fly the Pride flag.

"As an LGBTQ youth in this city, it would mean the world if raising this Pride flag wasn't such a huge deal," he said. "I can guarantee that nothing bad will happen from this; all that will happen is I'll feel more accepted in this city."

Councilmember Lan George commended the student and rebuked the adults who opposed the Pride flag. She mentioned data from a local youth symposium where 46 percent of students from SLO and Arroyo Grande identified as having thought about or having known someone who thought about taking their own lives. Those students said that their primary lifeline was having a trusted adult around.

George also compared anti-LGBTQ sentiment to the xenophobic attacks against Asian Americans during the height of the pandemic.

"It's so easy for us to stand behind our [American] flag, and mind you, I'm an immigrant from Vietnam," she said. "This flag gave my family and myself the life that we have. To be here where I am today is because of this flag, so I do not take it lightly." Δ