Another Pride flag battle brewing in tiny Norwich, Ont.

A year after Progress Pride flags were put up by the business improvement association (BIA) in downtown Norwich, sparking vandalism and criminal charges against one businessman, a new battle is brewing over flags and the community's support of LGBTQ+ residents. 

Coun. John Scholten is proposing a policy that only federal, provincial and municipal flags be flown on any Norwich Township property and that only banners related to the "promotion of downtown businesses or for downtown beautification" be installed on township streetlight poles. 

The goal is to "restore peace, harmony and safety in our community," Scholten said. 

But forbidding Pride flags or others that promote marginalized groups will do anything but, opponents say. 

"I'm a little confused how not flying a flag that endorses inclusivity, diversity, equity and inclusion is creating a safety issue. I think it's rhetoric and I think it's an excuse to continue to discriminate against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community," said Tammy Murray, the head of Oxford Pride. 

"There are a number of 2SLGBTQIA+ community members that don't feel safe in Norwich because of this religious rhetoric of divide." 

2SLGBTQIA+ stands for two-spirit, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and additional sexual orientations and gender identities.

Flying Progress Pride flags — which include black and brown stripes to represent marginalized LGBTQ+ communities of colour, as well as pink, light blue and white, which are used on the Transgender Pride flag — is a visual representation of safety and acceptance, Murray said. 

'There was never peace and harmony'

Last June, the Norwich BIA put up banners downtown, only to have dozens removed, vandalized, and burned. 

Jacob (Jake) Dey, who runs a farm equipment supply store in Tillsonburg, Ont., which is close to Norwich, was charged with theft after Pride flags in the farming community were taken down. Later, the businessman addressed Norwich Township council for half an hour, in a speech that likened the gay community to a social movement akin to the Nazis in 1930s Germany. 

Charges against Dey were withdrawn after he completed some community service. 

Scholten told CBC News he asked city staff to to prepare a report about a flag bylaw and when they didn't, he decided to take matters into his own hands and ask for the flag limits himself. 

"It is not my prerogative to raise tensions. I'd like to see peace and harmony in our township. We have many different types of people, we can't put a flag up for all of them," he said. If Pride flags are allowed, then other groups will also want flags, Scholten said. 

"It's a very difficult, touchy situation, and we as a council need to take a stand," he said. 

But the flags are a way of showing people that the community is "loving and accepting," said Sydney van den Hoek, a Norwich resident who has been vocal about her support of the flags. 

"The Pride flags show people we're a loving and accepting community and that we just wish the best for everyone, that we're a community that is diverse in culture and religion, in sexuality and gender orientation, and we're proud of that," van den Hoek said 

"(Scholten) says his goal is to restore peace, harmony and safety in our community. But I feel like there was never peace and harmony in the community. One group is heavily marginalized and if anyone wants to show support and let people know they are safe, it gets taken down or destroyed or stolen." 

Pride Month declaration sought

Another township politician, Coun. Alisha Stubbs, is asking council to officially proclaim June as Pride Month as a way to "encourage and promote equality for the 2SLGBTQ+ community throughout the municipality." 

"If we're really about inclusion and safety and harmony in the community, then let's move forward with this. "We know that having visual representation is actually a mitigating factor for the risk of suicide for youth and adults," said Stubbs, who works with young people who struggle with mental health issues. 

"If one thing that is seemingly small can help increase safety for someone's life, I have a hard time understanding why one would be against that." 

The two motions will be discussed at a township council meeting April 25, which members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies are planning to attend.