City to Hoist Homosexual Rainbow Flag on Flag Day

For the first time, the rainbow flag that represents the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity will be allowed to fly over Syracuse City Hall.

It will be raised June 14 - Flag Day. The ceremony will mark the first time a Syracuse mayor issues a proclamation recognizing the contributions of local people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

"This administration is representative of our entire community," said Maria Damiano, spokeswoman for Mayor Matt Driscoll. "It's the same for any group who would like this type of ceremony."

The June 14 flag raising, held the day before Syracuse's annual Pride Parade, is a victory for local gay activists who said similar requests went nowhere during the administration of Mayor Roy Bernardi.

"We asked them for years, but we either got a polite no or they just ignored us," said Bonnie Strunk of the Stonewall Committee, a local gay organization. "This is the first time they agreed to actually let us do it."

The flag did wave unofficially above City Hall for about an hour a few years ago, when frustrated activists hoisted it themselves about 6 a.m. one Saturday, Strunk said.

Jim Parenti, Bernardi's spokesman when he was at City Hall, said he thought most of the group's requests went to the Syracuse Common Council, and couldn't recall turning them down. He noted that councilors agreed to paint a lavender stripe on Salina Street for the length of the Pride Parade route and let the group borrow a podium when the parade organizers needed one.

He said former city Operations Director Joe Nicoletti met with them. Nicoletti could not be reached for comment late Monday afternoon.

Strunk said Nicoletti told them the flag raisings were limited to flags representing actual countries like Taiwan, Greece or Ireland.

Many people active in Syracuse's gay community were also active in Driscoll's campaign, Strunk said. They weren't disappointed by his willingness to raise the flag, which is being donated to the city by CNY Diversity, another gay organization.

The city's increasing willingness to recognize and accept different sexual orientations and gender identities was echoed in Syracuse Common Council chambers Monday, when the council voted unanimously to recognize June 15 as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Day in Syracuse.

Before that, the symbolic resolution created an annual stir among council members. Republicans, often led by former councilor Rick Guy, consistently voted against it on grounds of morality or a stricter interpretation of the council's responsibilities. Democrats voted for it.

This year's Pride Parade begins at 4 p.m. June 15 and will end with a festival at the Everson Museum of Art.

The arch, planned for Walton Street, would be built in conjunction with city repairs to the Walton Street Bridge over Onondaga Creek. The city hopes to win a grant for the project from the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Agreed to buy the Graystone Building at South Warren and Adams streets for a maximum amount of $3 million. The council had already approved the purchase in March, but details of the transaction had not yet been worked out. The Syracuse City School District hopes to open a vocational and technical school in the building next year.

The Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America's birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as 'Flag Birthday'. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as 'Flag Birthday', or 'Flag Day'.

On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.

Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as 'Flag Day', and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.

Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.

In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children's celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.

Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary if the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: "I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself."

Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day - the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 - was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.

So now, instead of honoring our beautiful American flag, we're expected to salute the symbol of "gay pride"? This is an obscenity.

What is gonna happen when the barnyard animal lovers come out of the closet. If they take good care of their animal,give it a loving home, and dont mistreat it, shouldnt they have special rights too?

When the people say but the animal isnt able to give its consent, the BALS (barnyard animal lover society) will reply with "I saved this animal from the slaughterhouse, It would be on your dinner plate if it were not for me.

I wonder what their flag will look like. It has to have a big red barn with a shining sun setting and maybe some sheep froliciking in a meadow.

They might start selling stickers for their cars so other animal lovers will be able to recognize their peers.I know this is sick but IMHO is no more sick then the sodomite culture in america.

America is slowly being destroyed.The only thing that might save it is the home schooling and private religious schooling movement. So I predict that gov.org will have to put a stop to it.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.