Flying the Pride flag is a gateway to ISIS, a Connecticut official claims as town passes ban

A Connecticut town council voted to ban the LGBTQ+ pride flag in government buildings almost immediately after coming under Republican control.

The Enfield Town Council voted in a meeting Monday to ban all flags from flying at government buildings save for the United States, Connecticut state, and military flags. The new policy, which went through with a vote of 6-5, replaces a 2022 policy that allowed the rainbow flag to fly during Pride Month in June.

While some the council members pushing the policy claimed to do so as a way to remain “neutral,” Councilor At-Large Gina Cekala, who voted against the measure, accused them of directly targeting the LGBTQ+ community and Pride flag.

“I think the real reason is you don’t want that Pride flag up on this town hall,” she said, “which is absolutely disgusting."

Tom Tyler, the interim town attorney, claimed at one point that if the the Pride flag was allowed to be flown, “ISIS could come in and want to display one, the IRA…basically anybody. You’d have to be content neutral and let everybody." He then went off-topic to accuse schools of trying to indoctrinate students with “transgender ideology.”

The decision came as a betrayal to many of the town’s residents, including Brandon Jewell of PFLAG Enfield, who noted that two of the Republicans voting to ban flags previously voted in favor of the 2022 policy that allowed the Pride displays.

read more: advocate.com/…/connecticut-pride-flag-ban-isis

EndOfLine,

The most amazing part is that they’ve resolved all of the more important issues and have the time to consider what flags should be allowed to fly at government buildings.

Right? I mean how negligent would it be to prioritize passing an approved flags list while issues that affect their constituents still need attention.

Carighan,
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

Plus, notice the absolute freedom these people are enforcing. Republicans, truly the people who still take freedom and self-determination serious! Not like those Democrafts who always want to legislate everything and have rules and bans and shit! Just let people do what they personally want, the republican way.

(Can we please just shove them all into the ocean already? Nothing of any value will be lost and we also reduce the carbon footprint a little bit.)

msage,

Oh, the carbon footprint will be drastic.

I suspect those are the people who shun any climate science, and instead will do the opposite of anything told to do.

AshMan85,

So that is a violation of the first amendment

mrcleanup,

Not necessarily, since this is a government building it would be the government’s speech, and they clearly don’t want to fly it. They aren’t preventing people from flying it on their personal property.

That said, there’s a clear likelihood that this is purely anti-lgbtq sentiment in action.

carl_dungeon,

Anyone that goes through that much effort to ban something that doesn’t harm them is hiding something.

afraid_of_zombies,

We need to start bounties on this, maybe via Kickstarter. Anyone who can get pictures of Tom Tyler getting head at a truck stop glory hole wins money. Cold hard cash.

butt_mountain_69420,

They wouldn’t do this shit if ya’ll were waiting in the parking lot with a load of axe handles.

admiralteal,

"ISIS could come in and want to display one, the IRA…basically anybody. You’d have to be content neutral and let everybody." He then went off-topic to accuse schools of trying to indoctrinate students with 'transgender ideology.'

Yep, that sounds like a typical conservative. Mind is just a jumble of terrified nightmare-fantasies about the big bad de jour that wanders off into total nonsense without any notice.

mindbleach,

‘It’s not bigotry, it’s hands-off neutrality! … this is bigotry.’

ModsAreCopsACAB,

du jour*

bedrooms,

If they believe they are doing the correct thing, why do they not write their intent in official announcements?

rivermonster,

Fox, OAN, NewsMax, etc. Those are gateways to the Christian Taliban… I mean ISIS. Same thing.

butt_mountain_69420,

retards of a feather flock together

Delta_V,

its ironic that vanilla isis is talking shit about original flavor isis, trying to imply that their shared boogie man wants anything to do with either kind of crazy religious right wingnuts

FordBeeblebrox,

Y’all Qaeda is a bigger threat to the world than any Afghanis ever were.

AceFuzzLord,

Y’all Qaeda

That got me laughing to the point of having a coughing fit.

rabiddolphin,
@rabiddolphin@lemmy.world avatar

Does ISIS raise property value?

afraid_of_zombies,

I hope no one emails or calls him about this issue by going to this link

www.enfield-ct.gov/directory.aspx?EID=699

Please please no one use *67 before dialing. Please no one go to the million or so temporary email boxes and email him. Please please don’t make your voice heard and stand up for a minority being attacked in our midst. Remember to say nothing about the oppression of x unless you are a member of x. Please do not set an alarm on your phone as a reminder to call once a day. Please go gently into that good night and let the fascists win by a million cuts.

NegativeInf,

I’m doing my part!

afraid_of_zombies,

Thank you for that. It is so important that small evil people are allowed to quitely harm the world without being called out on it.

Also no one go to his person website and do it

tylerandtyler.com/contact-us/

feedum_sneedson,

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    Linkerbaan,
    @Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

    “ISIS is gay.”

    Proceeds to hoist a military flag

    Is this town a modern warfare 2 lobby?

    spiderhamster,

    www.enfield-ct.gov/directory.aspx?EID=699

    sirdorius, (edited )

    ban all flags from flying at government buildings save for the United States, Connecticut state, and military flags

    Ah yes, military flags, very neutral. It’s great that conservatives are super neutral and yet they shit on people’s desire to not promote war, imperialism and genocide.

    ComradePorkRoll,

    But people died for those flags! /s

    Pretty silly to die for a piece of cloth.

    Aceticon,

    Religious Fascists claiming non-Fascist symbols are a gateway for other Religious Fascists.

    Satire is dead!

    moitoi,
    @moitoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    I’m figuring out how you come with these words together. I don’t know. It’s a new level of intellectual gymnastics.

    starman2112,
    @starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

    It’s really easy if you rtfa

    Tom Tyler, the interim town attorney, claimed at one point that if the the Pride flag was allowed to be flown, “ISIS could come in and want to display one, the IRA…basically anybody. You’d have to be content neutral and let everybody."

    I don’t agree with him in the slightest, but it’s not like he’s saying that being gay makes you a terrorist or something

    nifty,
    @nifty@lemmy.world avatar

    The ideologies of terrorist organizations are incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, the ideology of the Pride Flag is not. His logic is flawed. And no, there isn’t any room for “someone else’s freedom fighter” etc. under the Constitution. The law has room for interpretation, but not to the degree that Tyler is arguing that it does. Secondly, debates on hypothetical scenarios have no bearings on the law or how it’s applied. This is why that town clerk who refused a marriage license has to pay a fine now. The town should be sued to allow flying the Pride Flag.

    starman2112,
    @starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

    100% agreed. I’m just saying, it’s just flawed logic. Well, really it’s homophobia, but the claim that allowing one flag means you have to allow all flags is just flawed logic, not mental gymnastics.

    chicken,

    debates on hypothetical scenarios have no bearings on the law or how it’s applied

    This isn’t true though, tons of hypotheticals showing up in and being relevant to the outcome of court decisions. Not sure the general “compatibility” of an ideology to the constitution is very relevant here either since afaik there isn’t anything in there limiting what flags local governments can fly at government buildings, sounds like the deciding factor is whether the town council votes to allow a particular flag. Which would mean that what this guy is saying doesn’t make sense either, if ISIS got elected in that town they could vote to put their flag up regardless of the previous policy.

    nifty,
    @nifty@lemmy.world avatar

    To be clear, I meant hypotheticals debated outside of the courtrooms have no bearing.

    pinkdrunkenelephants,

    It’s just an excuse to ban LGBTQ+ expression, that’s all, and the bigots know it’ll work.

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