Will Pierce County buildings ever fly the Pride flag? Not at this rate, and it’s shameful

Let’s make one thing clear from the start: Pierce County won’t be flying the Pride flag anytime soon because elected Republican leaders in Pierce County don’t want to fly the Pride flag.

Or, at the very least, they’re content to muddy the conversation with abstract talk of policy and unity — and an unfounded fear that a less-than-unanimous process for deciding which flags are flown at the County-City Building could one day result in a bad thing happening — while ignoring the hurtful outcome they’re creating in the process.

Either way, the result for Pierce County’s LGBTQ community is the same. Instead of feeling the support of county government, they’re left with a clear message: Your very existence is divisive.

In the year 2022, that should trouble each and every one of us.

As The News Tribune’s Josephine Peterson has reported, last week the Pierce County Council passed an ordinance that sought to establish an official policy on the display of special flags at county buildings. The ordinance, which was approved by the Democratic majority on the council along party lines, 4 to 3, would have made it permissible for county buildings to display flags other than the county, Washington state, U.S. and the POW/MIA flag with a simple majority vote of the council.

But even that description risks dancing around the issue: Democrats on the council passed a flag policy because, last year, efforts to fly the Pride flag in conjunction with Pierce County’s first-ever Pride Month proclamation were thwarted and eventually abandoned.

At the time, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier pushed back on attempts to fly the Pride flag during the annual celebration of Pierce County’s LGBTQ community, leading Democrats on the council to drop the issue. Then, not a single Republican supported the county’s historic Pride Month proclamation, with Amy Cruver voting against it and Hans Zeiger and Dave Morrell abstaining. Before council voted on the proclamation, Dammeier declined to be a part of it.

Dammeier also attempted to make sure that flying any special flag – including the Pride flag — at Pierce County buildings would depend on unanimous council support in the future. Because there was no explicit policy on the books, the executive had one drawn up — apparently unbeknownst to Democrats — requiring all seven votes on the council to hoist a flag on county property other than the four allowed under county rules.

All of this brings us to the present.

On Monday, Dammeier vetoed the council Democrats’ simple-majority flag policy, insisting that the county already has a much more stringent one.

“By requiring broad support for flags to be flown over county facilities, this policy helps avoid the costly and unnecessary fights we have seen in other jurisdictions regarding these symbolic displays,” Dammeier wrote in his veto response to the council.

Not to be lost in any of this:

As last year’s contentious Pride Month proclamation made clear, there isn’t unanimous support for Pierce County’s LGBTQ on the council.

Given the historical political makeup of the County Council, there likely never has been.

Worst of all?

There might never be, as long as we allow elected leaders like Dammeier to treat honoring the LGBTQ community as potentially divisive.

Pride celebrations

Troy Christensen, the executive director of the Rainbow Center in Tacoma, says flying the Pride flag in Pierce County goes far beyond symbolism. It’s not the biggest issue Pierce County’s LGBTQ community has to contend with, but the recognition does matter.

As the director of a nonprofit that’s spent two decades providing resources and advocacy for the local LGBTQ community, Christensen explained via email that the community his organization serves “has a history of secrecy and shame — with people hiding who they are to avoid discrimination, harassment, hate crimes, diagnoses, arrest, involuntary medical alterations, etc.”

“Pride, for us, is to say we are no longer acting in shame and secrecy,” Christensen said. “Instead we are showing up as fully who we are, and raising our heads high for people to see who we are and what we contribute to our community.”

In light of anti-LGBTQ legislation being considered and passed by state legislatures across the country, Christensen said that local LGBTQ youth are watching to see what happens at home.

“To read that celebrating who they are is divisive sends a very clear message that they are not valued,” Christensen said.

Christensen is exactly right about the power and importance of Pride celebrations. It’s one reason The News Tribune Editorial Board continues to be dismayed by Dammeier’s refusal to treat the unnecessary debate over flying the Pride flag at county buildings with the thoughtfulness and distinction it deserves.

On Tuesday, discussing his veto decision with The News Tribune, Dammeier said that he owes the people of Pierce County a uniform flag policy “that they can apply — and apply to their situation fairly.”

“In my eyes, this has nothing to do with the Pride flag. It has to do with a policy that can be applied equally across all different kinds of potential flags. My job is to represent everybody in Pierce County,” Dammeier said. “When it comes to support for the LGBTQ community, I would ask you to go look at all the work that we do on behalf of them and in support of them.”

Dammeier has a point: Actions do speak louder than words or symbols.

The only trouble?

Whether it’s his intention or not, the executive doesn’t seem to realize that clinging to a blanket policy that all but prevents the Pride flag from being flown at county buildings is an action in itself.

Pierce County’s LGBTQ community

We take Dammeier at his word when he says he supports Pierce County’s LGBTQ community. But it’s also helpful to remember how we arrived at this point, because it provides a case study in how overdue calls for equity and inclusion get muted and neutered by “process,” even if that’s not the explicit motivation.

It’s one of the underhanded way the status quo is maintained.

Just think about it: Last year, Democrats on the County Council were told that flying the Pride flag could be divisive. They then took steps to fix that injustice — and crafted a reasonable policy that would make it possible — only to now find themselves locked in a wonky squabble about the powers of different branches of government, who gets to create policy and how many votes it should take. Lawyers may get involved.

In other words, it’s a convoluted conversation that allows Dammeier and his fellow Republicans to discuss the matter as though it’s somehow separate from the issue of supporting Pierce County’s LGBTQ community, which it’s not.

The deflection — and all the hypotheticals it’s based on — fails the common sense smell test.

Here’s the truth: At any point over the last year Dammeier and his Republican colleagues on the council could have found the courage to do the right thing.

Even if some flags can be construed as divisive — like the “thin blue line” flag or the “Let’s Go Brandon” flag, or any other flag someone might dream up — the Pride flag is altogether different. The only thing it promotes is recognition and respect for the LGBTQ community. It’s not an idea or a political cause, and it’s certainly not divisive — unless a person objects to showing recognition and respect to the LGBTQ community.

Does Pierce County need a policy that specifically spells out how and when special flags can be displayed on county property?

Maybe.

What we really need are leaders with guts, unafraid to stand up for the LGBTQ members of our community who deserve it.

News Tribune editorials reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Driscoll. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; and Jim Walton, community representative.

This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 11:16 AM.