I ask that you read this in full for details, thank you. Immediate action is necessary.

Less than two years after being introduced (May 2021), a 4 to 3 vote to remove the pride flag from flying at Huntington Beach City Hall has come through. Justification is several new ordinances, including one that changes the approved banners, the pride flag being axed from the previous list. The approved list is now the usual nation, state, county, city flags along with MIA/POW and military branches. Other reasons are given, such as a statement by Councilmember Pat Burns, who states in a request, "The City of Huntington Beach should avoid actions that could easily or mistakenly be perceived as divisive... [We] are one community with many different cultures and people. All are equally valued members of our community, and none are to be treated differently or discriminated against." 

Historically marginalized groups have been suppressed from being properly represented in society, with deadly results often coming of it. We as a community are not a topic for debate or derision, we deserve to exist and be properly represented in our city just as much as those who's flags fly just as proudly as those still approved. This choice reflects a stark hypocrisy in Burn's statement, as this flag is a sign of acknowledgment to the LGBTQ+ populous, however small you may see it. This change in which the pride flag is the only one removed from the rotation IS evidence in itself of being treated differently, and the intentional removal is discrimination against people that, who of which have been oppressed in voice and body, deserve to be held with the proper humane respect and voice by our society, especially our city of Huntington Beach. Concerns have cropped up about if the ordinance will affect any other flags, such as the Olympics, and while bordering on conspiratorial, I can confidently predict it will be treated with more dignity. In addition to this, the version of the flag being removed is the Philadelphia pride flag, created some years ago to represent LGBTQ+ people of color, who above all others have suffered the highest degree of violence, neglect, and dehumanization. If this ordinance were truly just, from their logic, only the American flag should fly, because apparently no matter what group you belong to or what you have endured as a community, no American should be treated in any different way. 

As a final note, though just as important, hate crime and anti queer bills have been running rampant over the past few years as those with majority power who want to cater to another just as ignorant and ambivalent majority have made pushes towards oppressive queer, women, non-Christian, and POC's rights legislation. This may be small and insignificant to many, it can be easy to ignore the presence of City Hall as a building all together. However, unlike the catastrophizing conspiracies rooted in insecurity and prideful hate, this will be the inch that can give those in power the mile. Immediate action is required.

Source(s):

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-07/huntington-beach-councilman-seeks-to-remove-lgbtq-flag-at-city-hall

(I am aware that some have issue with the LA Times but it is pretty straightforward breakdown of the events)