Leftists howl after SoCal city effectively votes to ban Pride flags on public property: 'They’re full of s**t'

Leftists in California and online are howling with outrage after a Southern California city voted to restrict the flags that can fly on public property.

Last week, Huntington Beach, a city of nearly 200,000 residents about 35 miles south of Los Angeles, voted to approve an amendment to the city charter that would limit the city to flying flags representing America, California, Orange County, the city, the Olympics, the six branches of the Armed Forces, and American MIAs and POWs as well as any other flag unanimously approved by the city council.

The amendment passed easily with 58% voting to approve it. The L.A. Times made sure to note that "turnout was low" and that just 23% of registered voters in the city cast a ballot.

The measure makes no mention of the Pride flag, but many critics claim that the Pride flag was the real, unspoken subject at hand. "They flat-out said this is not about banning the Pride flag," said Council Member Dan Kalmick. "They’re full of s**t. Of course it’s about the Pride flag."

Kalmick is a longtime California leftist who boasts in his government bio that he has worked tirelessly "expanding housing options, promoting the equal rights of minority groups, and addressing the growing homelessness challenges in the city through a compassionate and results-driven approach." On social media, he railed against voter ID laws and, as recently as September, admitted driving to a pharmacy an hour away so that his two young children, both under age 5, could receive COVID vaccine boosters.

Kalmick and others also seem upset that voters elected four conservative-minded council members in 2022, partially in response to the council's unanimous decision in 2021 to fly the Pride flag throughout the month of June. And indeed, all four council members whose terms expire in 2026 supported the amendment: Mayor Tony Strickland, Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark, and Council Members Pat Burns and Casey McKeon.

"To me, it’s demeaning to the LGBQ [sic] community to fly that flag," Burns said recently. "Everybody has got something they can identify with, and I don’t believe it’s our government’s position to start playing those identity politics games."

In an editorial about the passage of the flag measure as well as a measure about voter ID, the L.A. Times claimed that Huntington Beach had sent a "MAGA message" full "of hatred and intolerance."

Peg Corley, executive director of the LGBTQ Center Orange County, likewise slammed the voters' choice. "The LGBTQ community is not a political statement nor a special interest. We are people who wish to live our lives without suffering hate or discrimination for who we are," Corley's statement read in part.

In response to the vote, LGBTQ+ activists have even apparently taken to defacing public property to demonstrate their displeasure. A SoCal reporter shared photos on X that indicate that Pride flags and the message "WE BELONG" were spray-painted on the exterior of the city library and a nearby intersection.

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