On Tuesday, the city council of Hamtramck, Michigan voted to pass a resolution that forbids the display of pro-LGBTQ flags from any city property.
As reported by Breitbart, the vote by the all-Muslim council of the Detroit-area city was unanimous. The resolution in question was proposed by Mayor Pro-Tem Muhammad Hassan, and also prohibits the display of any flags that feature religious, racial, sexual, or political connotation; only the American flag is allowed on city property under the new measure, along with state and city flags, other nationalities’ flags, and the Prisoner of War flag.
“Hassan and other members of the council said the LGBTQ+ community and others are welcome in Hamtramck but that they need to respect religious freedom,” said the Detroit Free Press. “Some proponents of the resolution said the pride flag clashes with their faith. Several speakers from Dearborn who were leaders in protests last year against LGBTQ books spoke at the Hamtramck meeting, saying American soldiers sacrificed for the U.S. flag, not the pride flag.”
Ultimately, “after three hours of public comments and months of intense debate,” the resolution was passed without a single vote in opposition.
“We want to respect the religious rights of our citizens,” said Councilman Nayeem Choudhury in his remarks. “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.”
Another council member pointed to the slippery slope of even allowing one overtly political flag to be flown on city property, saying “if you let one flag in, you’ll have to let all of the flags in.”
One man who spoke during the public comment portion, an immigrant from Yemen, affirmed his support for the resolution by saying that “we only salute the American flag.” He described the country he fled, surrounded by “poverty and chaos…at another level,” and how it made him all the more thankful to have moved to America, which allows him to “worship [his] creator in peace and tranquility.”
“Unfortunately, many people in our country don’t seem to understand this,” the man continued. “They don’t know, or they don’t want to know, what it is like to live in extreme poverty, what it is like to live under severe repression, where there’s no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion.”
The city of Hamtramck notably has the largest percentage of immigrants out of all cities in Michigan, and has the only city council in the entire United States where every single member is Muslim. The passing of the resolution reflects what appears to be an ongoing divide within the Muslim-American community, which generally supports the Democratic Party despite conservative religious values that are strongly opposed to homosexuality and transgenderism.