A federal judge in Michigan is set to decide whether a city’s ban on the display of pride flags and other religious, ethnic, and political flags at city-owned properties violates the Constitution. 

In June 2023, the all-Muslim Hamtramck city council unanimously approved the ban on the display of LGBT, religious, ethnic, racial, and political flags on city property. Two former members of the Hamtramck human relations commission, Russ Gordon and Cathy Stackpoole, sued the city after they were fired for raising a pride flag after the ban was passed. 

The federal district court judge presiding over the case, David Lawson, held a hearing in the case on June 26 and is expected to issue a ruling in late July or early August.

The city says the ban is intended to ensure that Hamtramck has a policy of “neutrality” regarding flags flown on city property. It bans all flags except for the American flag, the flag of the state of Michigan, the Hamtramck flag, the Prisoners of War flag, and the flags of countries from which current Hamtramck residents immigrated. 

An attorney representing Mr. Gordon and Ms. Stackpoole, Marc Susselman, argued in the hearing that the ban was influenced by religious views and perceptions of the religious views of the community. He said that violates the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. 

“I argued that there was evidence indicating that both had influenced them … and the government is not allowed to make a decision about … what speech is going to be permissible based on their religious views regarding the speech,” Mr. Susselman said of his reasoning.

“I felt I had enough evidence that [religious views] played a major role in their decision. And not just because they’re Muslim, but because among their constituents are also Christians who were opposed to the display of the pride flag that they believed violated Christianity.”

Mr. Susselman highlighted comments  ahead of the 2023 vote by a former Hamtramck council member, Nayeem Choudhury, who said the ban does not prevent private citizens from flying the pride flag, but that the city wanted to “respect the religious rights of our citizens.”

Representatives for the city of Hamtramck did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.  

Hamtramck has more than 27,000 residents, with a large population of Muslim immigrants. Census data shows that 40 percent of the city is foreign-born. The mayor of Hamtramck, Amer Ghalib, who made history as the first Arab American and first Muslim to run the city, endorsed President Trump ahead of the 2024 election, which roiled liberal residents. 

Bans on the display of pride flags on government property have been spreading across the country. A supporter of the lawsuit and president of the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Charley Beal, told the Detroit News that when the Hamtramck regulation was passed, there were eight such bans in America. 

Mr. Beal, whose organization opposes such bans, says there are now 60 bans in effect, including in Idaho, Utah, and Montana, which have implemented statewide bans. 

While the Hamtramck challenge could indicate how similar lawsuits will fare in court, it also marks a chance for a burgeoning coalition of Christians and Muslims to notch another win in their effort to push back on LGBT messaging and themes in the public arena. 

In 2022, Hamtramck parents — including Muslim residents — criticized Hamtramck Public Schools’ inclusion of books with LGBT themes, which they argued contained inappropriate content for children. In response, the school district said it would implement a new process that would let parents review books for students. 

In 2021, the then-mayor of Hamtramck, Karen Majewski, raised the pride flag outside city hall, sparking an uproar among conservative residents. Mr. Ghalib campaigned for mayor in part on his opposition to the pride flag being flown on city property. 

A similar multi-faith coalition has emerged elsewhere in Michigan and America. In October 2022, Christian and Muslim parents at Dearborn, which is 47 percent Arab American, protested the inclusion of LGBT books in schools. The protest by Muslim parents garnered the attention of mainstream outlets. The Guardian noted that attendees of the Dearborn meeting were “not the white, right-wing conservative Christians” whom it usually found pushing back against LGBT books, but constituted “almost all Muslim Arab Americans.” 

Last month, a group of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish parents in Maryland won a significant victory at the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices ruled in favor of giving parents the ability to opt their children out of lessons involving LGBT books in schools.