The city council of the only U.S. locale with an all-Muslim governing body and mayor voted unanimously Tuesday night to ban the display of LGBTQ Pride flags on all city properties.
The resolution was introduced by Mayor Pro Tem and Councilman Mohammed Hassan of Hamtramck, Michigan, a city of about 28,000 next to Detroit. The resolution states that “the government of the City of Hamtramck does not allow any religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group flags to be flown on the City’s public properties, and that only, the American flag, and the nations’ flags that represent the international character of our City shall be flown.”
“You guys are the ones making problems,” Hassan told opponents of the proposal who attended a council meeting, according to the Detroit Free Press. “Please don’t threaten us. … I’m the elected official. … I’m working for the people, what the majority of the people like.”
“We serve everybody equally with no discrimination, but without favoritism,” Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib said. “Those people who accused me of hating them, half of my boards and commissions are either LGBTQ, or supporters for LGBTQ. I never fired anybody who belong to the LGBTQ.”
Ghalib was elected in 2021 after he criticized former mayor Karen Majewski for flying the Pride flag outside city hall. As far back as 2008, conservative Christians in the community joined with the local Muslim community to battle the LGBT community over an a city ordinance that would include the LGBT community as a protected group.
“We want to respect the religious rights of our citizens,” City Councilman Nayeem Choudhury echoed. “You guys are welcome. … [but] why do you have to have the flag shown on government property to be represented? You’re already represented. We already know who you are. … By making this [about] bigotry … it’s making it like you want to hate us.”
During the public comment session over the resolution, one woman said sarcastically Hamtramck should alter its slogan to say the city “welcomes you if you’re straight,” and then proceeded to kiss another woman.
A Muslim community leader from Dearborn, Michigan, Hassan Aoun, stated, “Pride month, don’t put it down our throats. You can be gay by yourself. … Do not put [the Pride flag] on city property.”
Last year, Hamtramck’s Human Relations Commission Chair Russ Gordon engendered controversy when he flew a Pride flag on Jos Campau Avenue next to flags of other nations. He reportedly had planned to fly the flag again, although it was not clear if he would in light of the new resolution.