Two Oceanside City Council members’ proposal to create a policy for displaying flags outside the Civic Center was abandoned Wednesday after much discussion and three failed votes.
Councilmembers Rick Robinson and Peter Weiss suggested the policy allow only the city, state and national flags on city flagpoles and buildings, also the POW/MIA flag outside City Hall, and flags “for the purpose of mourning the loss of police officers, firefighters and lifeguards” at public safety facilities.
“It’s the most inclusive way to do this,” Robinson said. Their request made no mention of the Pride flag, although the proposed policy was widely seen as an effort to ban the rainbow LGBTQ banner.
Similar flag policies have prompted spirited discussions at cities, school boards and other agencies across San Diego County.
Over the summer, the issue drew crowds and demonstrations at Carlsbad City Hall and two Carlsbad high schools. The Carlsbad City Council failed to approve a flag policy, but soon afterward narrowly supported a different request to fly the rainbow banner at its City Hall during June, which is Pride month.
Several other cities and some school districts in San Diego County raise the Pride flag during June.
The rainbow banner has been displayed on the main flagpole outside the State Capitol building in Sacramento every June since 2019, and this year the newer trans- and racial-inclusive variation called the “Progress Pride flag” was hung from the south portico at the White House.
Robinson, Oceanside’s former fire chief, said he suggested the flag policy after the City Council recently received a request to fly the “Sanctity of Human Life” banner, which is a symbol of the anti-abortion movement. Few, if any, cities have displayed that flag, and it’s rarely a subject of discussion.
“This policy does not take away the flying of the rainbow flag,” Robinson said. “We don’t fly it now … (and) it doesn’t remove the city’s support for the LGBTQ community.”
Oceanside hosts the annual Pride by the Beach Festival in June, and it attracted an estimated 23,000 participants this year. Also, some of the city’s police officers wear a rainbow emblem, which is allowed but not required, on their uniform during Pride month.
Councilmember Eric Joyce said the proposed policy was unclear about when and where flags would be displayed, whether on flagpoles outdoors, on buildings, or indoors on walls and in work spaces, as well as whether it would infringe on First Amendment rights.
“There’s a lot of unanswered questions for me about this policy,” Joyce said. “Unless this includes some kind of space for commemorative flags … I can’t support it.”
More than 20 people addressed the council on the issue.
Most of the proposal’s supporters said the government flags are the only ones that represent everyone in the city, and that allowing any others would be divisive. Their opponents said the Pride flag is the only one that truly represents everyone, and it should be displayed as a symbol of acceptance and welcome for minorities.
Mayor Esther Sanchez talked at length about supporting the LGBTQ community and the work of the North County LGBTQ Resource Center in Oceanside. She said any new policy should include flying the Pride flag at the Civic Center each June.
“Being gay is not a choice,” Sanchez said, adding that the issue has wrongly been politicized throughout government and even at “our freaking Supreme Court.”
“When you talk about identity, this is not a political issue,” she said. “The rainbow flag includes me, it includes everyone.
“If Oceanside stands for anything, it’s about inclusiveness,” the mayor said. “For me, it’s about love. Whether or not we agree, we can work together.”
Sanchez asked to amend Robinson’s proposal by allowing the Pride flag to be flown at City Hall every June. Her motion failed on a 2-2 vote with Robinson and Weiss opposed and Councilman Ryan Keim abstaining.
A motion by Joyce to include consideration of any commemorative flag, not just the Pride banner, failed on a 2-3 vote with Robinson, Weiss and Keim opposed. And a motion by Weiss to approve the proposal as written failed with Joyce, Sanchez and Keim opposed.
Oceanside displays the POW/MIA flag below the U.S. flag at the Civic Center, along with the city and state flags. No other flags have been displayed on the three poles there in recent memory, a city official said, and without a policy, that practice is likely to continue.
