Democratic Mayor Refuses to Raise the Pride Flag

In a surprise display of a politician departing from his party’s line, a Democratic mayor in Reading, Pennsylvania has refused to raise the LGBT rainbow pride flag over city hall, arguing that it sends a non-impartial political message.

“The flag was originally slated to fly on Monday in recognition of Reading’s Pride Celebration and stay up through the following Sunday,” reports LifeSiteNews. “However, the Reading Eagle reports that Mayor Wally Scott blocked it just minutes before it was set to go up. He objected not to the LGBT lobby’s causes, but to the prospect of flying anything representing a live political cause.”

In a statement to reporters, acting managing director Osmer Deming said that Mayor Scott simply does not wish to use government property to endorse current political movements. “The mayor’s position is that he does not support flags being up that support political movements and he views that as a political movement,” he said.

City council president Jeffrey Waltman said that he tried to change the mayor’s mind but ultimately could not persuade him from “concerns about raising the flag.” Councilwoman Donna Reed said that all plans were in place to have the flag fly until Mayor Scott shut it down at the last minute. “I contacted the managing director and was told this flag would fly through the 21st,” Reed said.

“It was obviously an administrative breakdown that showed up at the last minute. It was approved by Osmer and I guess it didn’t get relayed,” Waltman added.

#ReadingPa was set to raise a flag to celebrate #Pride but Mayor Wally Scott said no at the last minute pic.twitter.com/9EzRf460Ei

— Jeremy Long (@jeremymlong) July 15, 2019

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