The Huntington Beach City Council, earlier this month, approved flying the rainbow colored flag at City Hall and recognizing June as Pride Month. Photo: City of Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach has joined a growing list of cities that will fly the Pride Flag for the month of June, which has been declared nationally as Pride Month.
The Huntington Beach City Council, earlier this month, approved flying the rainbow colored flag above City Hall and recognizing June as Pride Month in a unanimous 6-0 vote. Councilman Erik Peterson was absent.
Mayor Kim Carr, who introduced the item with Councilman Dan Kalmick, said the Pride flag represents freedom.
“When I talked about how the Pride flag represented unity and community, what it really meant as I was thinking about it was freedom. That’s the freedom to be who you want to be with no shame, no discrimination, and to be accepted,” Carr said during the council meeting. “If it just means having that flag there for about four weeks, what’s the harm in that?”
Kalmick said that raising the Pride flag was a long overdue gesture to reflect support for the LGBTQ community.
“This is a very positive thing. It’s not divisive. It’s not negative. The Pride flag is love,” Kalmick said. “It’s time we show our support to our fellow residents who don’t see themselves in City Council.”
The Irvine City Council, last year, voted to raise the Pride Flag from Harvey Milk Day, May 22, to the end of June. The council had shelved a similar resolution in 2019.
Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Laguna Beach are among other Orange County cities that have raised Pride flags at their city halls in honor of LGBTQ Pride Month.
