Michigan city with all-Muslim council bans Pride flags on public property

From the Daily Mail  The clash of the diversities gathers apace. 

A Michigan city with an all-Muslim government has banned LGBTQ+ flags from public areas after a bizarre hours-long meeting that saw displays of passion from both sides.

The Hamtramck City Council meeting took a turn when a woman wearing a clown nose made a speech mocking the council and its majority-Muslim population before kissing a woman standing next to her Tuesday night.

‘Sure, many Hamtramck residents have fled countries where being gay is a death sentence, but nothing says we have to make it ‘comforting’ and ‘welcoming’ here,’ the woman said on Tuesday night.

The meeting was so well attended people were listening from the hallways as council members said the Pride flag clashed with the beliefs of some members of their faith.

Businesses and residents aren´t prohibited from displaying a Pride flag on their own property.

‘You guys are welcome,’ council member Nayeem Choudhury said. ‘(But) why do you have to have the flag shown on government property to be represented? You´re already represented. We already know who you are. .. We want to respect the religious rights of our citizens,’ Choudhury said.

The two women kissing were followed up by Dearborn activist Hassan Aoun, who spoke passionately against the Pride flag on public property.

‘I am a Lebanese person and I support the American flag. We are not going to sit here and tolerate you guys coming and saying, ‘Oh it’s Pride Month. You’re gay? No problem.’ Don’t sit here and throw it down kids’ throat, my throat, or anybody’s throat.’

The council voted unanimously to display only five flags, including the American flag, the Michigan flag and one that represents the native countries of immigrant residents.

Mayor Amer Ghalib made the flag a campaign issue when then-Mayor Karen Majewski flew one on city property in 2021. . .Just last week, Ghalib slammed an unknown person for putting a Pride flag in the trash . . . (that photograph looks VERY posed) Ghalib also publicly criticized a person who flew a Nazi flag at their home in January.

‘I don’t think that’s a reasonable argument, this (the flag) is something that reminds people who lost loved ones of bad and painful memories,’ he said. ‘We are with tolerance, acceptance and peace but we cannot tolerate hateful behavior in our community.’

Ghalib and the city’s council, which is all-Muslim, has ruffled feathers in their first two years in office.

In January, the city council voted to allow religious animal sacrifices in the home, with Ghalib citing religious freedom.  Two months later, the city passed a resolution supporting Palestine and opposing military aid to ‘all repressive governments.’

Hayley Cain said she chose to live in Hamtramck after moving from California because it was known as a diverse community. ‘I´m questioning whether it is. … The Pride flag represents making space for all humans on all the spectrums, and this is where we´re going as a human species,’ Cain said. ‘You can´t stop that.’

Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights advocacy group, said Hamtramck’s strict flag policy doesn’t discriminate against anyone.

DailyMail.com has reached out (terrible phrase – what is wrong with ‘contacted’?) to Governor Whitmer for comment.