Fairfield council declares June ‘Pride Month,’ residents discuss flagpole

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield City Council once again declared June “Pride Month” during its meeting Monday, which the council had done the prior year, too.

Jared Brown, a member of the Fairfield Queer Parliament, appeared before the council to ask for the declaration. Brown told The Union that he was pleased to see Fairfield follow in the footsteps of Ottumwa and many other places in the U.S. and around the world in recognizing June as Pride Month.

“It shows a local initiative for local governments to look at its queer citizens and say, ‘I see you,’” Brown said.

Brown said the Fairfield Queer Parliament is planning a Pride Weekend with festivities June 24-26, though the details are still being ironed out.

Several Fairfield residents spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting about the flagpole in Central Park. Brown said the Fairfield Queer Parliament had considered asking the council for permission to flag the Pride Flag on the flagpole in the park, though the group ultimately decided not to ask for this. Nevertheless, because this suggestion had become known to members of the public before the meeting, 11 people signed up to speak in opposition to the idea.

Brown said it was never the intent of the Queer Parliament to replace the American flag.

“We just thought it might be nice to have it up there alongside the other flags,” he said.

One resident who spoke in opposition to flying the Pride Flag in Central Park was Brad Fregger, a former candidate for Fairfield City Council. Fregger said he felt the LGBTQ community was asking for special treatment to fly its flag.

“We don’t give special treatment to anyone else, like a Black Lives Matter flag or a ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ flag,” he said. “For the last 150 years, that flagpole has been dedicated to just the American flag and the Iowa state flag.”

Fairfield City Attorney John Morrissey addressed the controversy by pointing to a First Amendment case that came before the U.S. Supreme Court this year, in which the court ruled the city of Boston violated the First Amendment rights of a conservative group that sought to fly a Christian flag at city hall. The court argued that since the city had allowed other groups to use the flagpole, it could not deny that right to the group wanting to fly the Christian flag.

Morrissey recommended that the city maintain a policy of not allowing private groups to fly their flag on the Central Park flagpole and to reserve it to just the American and Iowa flags.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com