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Newsweek
6 days ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Pride Flags Displayed Across Red States in Defiance of Bans
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Local leaders in several Republican-led states are pushing back against bans on pride flags being hung from government buildings by creating legal loopholes to allow for LGBTQ+ displays. From city halls to public monuments, these acts of defiance come in the face of increasingly common legislative efforts to limit or ban pride flag displays on government property. While some states have codified such bans—citing neutrality or uniform flag policies—cities like Missoula, Salt Lake City, and Boise have found legal or procedural workarounds to continue public expressions of support for LGBTQ+ communities. Human Rights Campaign Senior Director of Legal Policy, Cathryn Oakley, told Newsweek: "It has never been more important for everyone—especially local governments, and especially in states that are overtly hostile to equality—to share their support for LGBTQ+ people." Director of Communications at The Trevor Project Zach Eisenstein told Newsweek: "The Trevor Project's most recent national survey listed 'having or displaying Pride flags' as one of the top ten ways in which people can best show their support and acceptance for LGBTQ+ youth, according to the young people themselves. Pride flags can be a simple but effective way to signal a welcoming space—not just for LGBTQ+ people, but for everyone." A flags flies at the Salt Lake City and County building showing support for the LGBTQ+ community in Salt Lake City on May 7, 2025. A flags flies at the Salt Lake City and County building showing support for the LGBTQ+ community in Salt Lake City on May 7, 2025. Melissa Majchrzak/AP Photo Why It Matters Pride flags exist to both celebrate and show acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. Over the past few months, several Republican-controlled state legislatures have banned them from being flown from state buildings, but small pockets of local officials have been pushing back against the bans. This comes as the Trump administration has issued several executive orders and policy changes within executive governments targeting gay rights and transgender people, including officially defining sex and gender as biological, limiting access to gender-affirming care for young people, and planning to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, named after the gay rights campaigner. What to Know Missoula, Montana Missoula Representative Zooey Zephyr, right, and her fiancée Erin Reed, left, wave to supporters during the Missoula Pride Parade in in Missoula, Montana, on June 17, 2023. Missoula Representative Zooey Zephyr, right, and her fiancée Erin Reed, left, wave to supporters during the Missoula Pride Parade in in Missoula, Montana, on June 17, 2023. Ben Allan Smith/The Missoulian via AP, File Pride flags are banned from government offices in Montana because of House Bill 819, which bans all flags that "represent a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender or political ideology." However, the Missoula City Council notices that the bill allows for "official historical flags of the United States." On June 3, they voted 9-2 to classify pride flags as an official historical flag of the city, meaning they can be flown from all municipal buildings. Leah Ore who runs the political action group Missoula Resists was quoted by Montana Public Radio, saying: "Having a symbol like a pride flag shows them that they are safe, they are loved, and if they are feeling scared or they need extra help, they know who they can go to. I say Pride is suicide prevention. Our pride flags are suicide prevention." Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, however, said the city council "should be ashamed" of their action. Salt Lake City, Utah The Salt Lake City flag is seen imposed onto transgender flag colors at the Salt Lake City and County building on May 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake City flag is seen imposed onto transgender flag colors at the Salt Lake City and County building on May 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. Melissa Majchrzak/AP Photo Utah issued a similar ban on "non-government" flags flying from government buildings in February 2025. The bill calls for a $500 fine on state and local governments that fly any flag other than the U.S. flag, the state flag, a city or county flag, military flags, Olympic and Paralympic flags, official college flags or tribal flags. Salt Lake City Mayor, Erin Mendenhall, spearheaded a campaign to impose the city's official flag design of a sego lily onto flags including pride, transgender, and Juneteenth colors. This motion passed with unanimous consent from the city council, allowing Salt Lake City to fly flags with the Pride colors as official government flags for the city. Mayor Mendenhall told The Guardian: "We are not violating the order. We've made it a part of our official government identity." Boise, Idaho The city council of Boise, Idaho, took a similar approach to Missoula and Salt Lake City officials, voting 5-1 in favor of a proclamation made by Boise Mayor Lauren McLean making the pride flag, which has flown above the city hall for several years, an official city flag. This vote occurred after Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 96 in April 2025, which banned flags other than the U.S. flag, flags of Idaho colleges, state flags, universities and public schools, and the official flags of military branches. Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador wrote in a letter to Mayor McClean: "Governmental officials may hold personal beliefs that would be represented on flags with other messages such as 'Make America Great Again' or 'Don't Tread on Me,' but, after passage of House Bill 96, flying such flags by government entities is against the law. What if citizens of Boise acted as you have by refusing to follow the municipal laws with which they disagree…based on the same logic? How do you ensure your citizens' respect for the rule of law if you are not following the law yourself?" Council member Meredith Stead told The Guardian: "Removing the flag now after years of flying it proudly would not be a neutral act. It would signal a retreat from values we've long upheld and send a disheartening message to those who have found affirmation and belonging through its presence at city hall." Jacksonville, Florida Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' Department of Transportation banned cities across the state from lighting up their bridges in any colors other than red, white, and blue. The ban was introduced in 2024 when cities were forbidden from lighting up their bridges with rainbows for Pride, red for sickle cell awareness, and/or orange for gun safety awareness. DeSantis also introduced a 2023 executive order banning non-official flags from government buildings. In defiance of that ban, LGBTQ+ campaigners lit up the Acosta Bridge in Jacksonville with rainbow colors on Sunday, June 1. What People Are Saying Director of Communications at The Trevor Project Zach Eisenstein told Newsweek: "It is difficult to see some lawmakers prioritize writing and passing legislation that makes a symbol of acceptance illegal, out of all the other issues they could act on. Efforts to ban pride flags accomplish nothing aside from attempting to tell a group of already marginalized people, 'you don't belong here.'" Human Rights Campaign Senior Director of Legal Policy, Cathryn Oakley, told Newsweek: "Flags are a declaration of acceptance, and LGBTQ+ pride is all about showing defiance of oppression by displaying acceptance and love across differences. Pride flags are important symbols for the LGBTQ+ people, including youth, who are constantly receiving messages of being less-than and are scared about the future. It is meaningful that these cities are willing to take a risk to show their support for our community." A Missoula community member told KPAX: "Never been prouder to say that I'm in Missoula. The action was quick. It was devastating to hear that colleagues were being told to take their pride flags down. And I was feeling a moment of serious despair and, how quickly we all organized." Council member Sandra Vasecka who voted against the Missoula resolution was quoted by Montana Public Radio, saying: "It does choose sides, and we do need to remain neutral as a local governing body." Idaho Rep. Ted Hill, a Republican who sponsored House Bill 96 said: "The best way to do it is to get rid of everything. So the only thing you have in the classroom is the American flag, the state flag. And people will say inclusivity and all this. Well, the American flag is as inclusive as it can get." Amy Glassman, an organizer of the event in Jacksonville, told "As I have said millions of times before and will continue to say — lights or no lights, there will always be rainbow colors on the Acosta Bridge." Florida State Senator Randy Fine said of the bill to effectively ban displaying pride flags:"The idea here is that the government should not be in the political message business." What Happens Next Residents in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Madison, Wisconsin — both states that voted for Donald Trump in 2024 — attended pride flag-raising ceremonies in their cities. In Cincinnati, a cheering crowd collected at the courthouse to see the pride flag flown. Democratic mayor, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, said: "Cincy Pride is one of those times when the Queen City gets to really show off who we are." Similarly, the Democratic mayor of Madison, Satya Rhodes-Conway, said: "It matters that we communicate to all…that here we respect people's rights." These community events, and continued defiance of pride flag bans, show resistance to efforts to diminish LGBTQ+ visibility in the US.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Explainer-What are the potential outcomes of Canada's general election?
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will hold a general election on April 28, with polls indicating a close race between Prime Minister Mark Carney's ruling Liberals and the official opposition Conservatives of Pierre Poilievre. There are 343 seats in the elected House of Commons chamber. A party falling short of the 172 seats needed for a majority is obliged to create a minority government reliant on support from opposition legislators to stay in power. Minority governments tend to be less stable and rarely last more than two years. Here are the potential outcomes of the vote and what they would mean: MAJORITY LIBERAL GOVERNMENT This result would be the most straightforward. Carney would continue to govern without interruption. Before the House returned on May 26, he would put together a cabinet, work on a budget and outline his plans for the next parliamentary session. MINORITY LIBERAL GOVERNMENT Carney would continue to govern but have to either negotiate with opposition legislators for support or go it alone and dare other parties to topple his government. Minority governments need to show they have the confidence of the House and the first opportunity to do so would be the Speech from the Throne, which is written by the government and read out by the governor general, the personal representative of King Charles, Canada's head of state. Opposition parties would later be able to vote to bring down the government when it presented its budget. If the Liberals fell a few seats short of the 172 needed for a majority, they would most likely govern as though they had one, confident that other parties would not want to oust them so soon after the election. But if they ended up 20 or so seats short, they would need help. Their natural partner is the left-leaning New Democratic Party, which struck a deal with Justin Trudeau - Carney's predecessor - to keep him in power for more than two years in return for increased spending on social programs. The NDP also held the balance of power after the 1972 election when Pierre Trudeau, the father of Justin Trudeau, saw his majority government reduced to a minority. Formal coalition governments in Canada are unknown outside of wartime. If the NDP was unwilling or unable to support Carney, he could approach the Bloc Quebecois, which seeks independence for the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec. Such a deal would be carried out on a vote-by-vote basis, since a formal agreement with a party aiming to break up Canada is politically toxic for much of the country. MAJORITY CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT This result is the second-most straightforward scenario. After a transition period that usually lasts about 10 days, Poilievre would visit the governor general with his cabinet to be sworn in. His team would start working on a budget and a Speech from the Throne. STRONG MINORITY CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT This outcome would be more complex, in part because the Conservatives have no natural allies in a House where the smaller opposition parties - the Bloc, the New Democrats and the Greens - are all left-leaning. Key factors would be how many seats the Conservatives won and the reaction of Carney, who remains prime minister until a confidence vote in the House. If Poilievre fell a few seats short of 172 and the Liberals were well behind, Carney would most likely resign and allow the Conservatives a chance to govern. Poilievre could then try to govern as though he had a majority. Although the Speech from the Throne does not have to be presented immediately - after the Progressive Conservative Party, the forerunner of Poilievre's party, won a minority in the 1979 election, the House did not resume business until nearly five months later - the Conservative leader would be under pressure to reveal his plans soon given the uncertainty about U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs on imports from Canada. WEAK MINORITY CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT If the Conservatives won more seats than the Liberals but fell far short of a majority, Carney could still step down and give Poilievre a chance to govern. The risk for Poilievre is that the Liberals and other parties could unite to bring him down quickly. The defeat of a government would normally trigger an election, but if Poilievre were toppled quickly, the governor general would most likely invite Carney to try to form a government. Conservative supporters would almost certainly be enraged by such a move. HUNG PARLIAMENT WITH SLIGHT EDGE TO THE CONSERVATIVES This scenario is by far the most complicated and potentially destabilizing. While the Conservatives traditionally argue the party with the most seats should get the first chance to govern, that privilege falls to the party that can show it has the House's confidence. If Poilievre won a handful of seats more than the Liberals and Carney felt he could create a stable arrangement with the New Democrats, the prime minister could try to remain in office until there was a chance to test the confidence of the House. This move would no doubt infuriate Conservative supporters, particularly in Western Canada where distrust of the federal government is high and support for the Liberals has been weak since the late 1970s. In late 2008, six weeks after an election that gave the then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives a strong minority government, the Liberals, Bloc and New Democrats announced a deal to bring it down over its proposed budget and then to form a coalition government. The three-party agreement quickly foundered over unhappiness that the Bloc would have a role running the country. Harper defused the crisis by asking the governor general to suspend Parliament for six weeks to allow tempers to cool.
Russia Today
10-04-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
US senator wants Trump probed for market manipulation
US Democratic Senator Adam Schiff has called on Congress to investigate President Donald Trump for possible insider trading and market manipulation following his abrupt trade policy U-turn. Global stocks soared after the president paused the imposition of tariffs on a multitude of countries this week. On Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs against US trade partners, lowering duties to a flat 10% rate. The only exception was China, which he hit with an increase to 125% following Beijing's tariff hike on US goods to 84%. Immediately after the announcement, US stock markets posted near-record gains after a week-long slump. Mere hours before the announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: 'BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well,' followed by, 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT,' referencing his media company's stock ticker. The timing of his posts, the pause and the resulting market rally sparked speculation about market manipulation online, which became even more heated after White House aide Margo Martin posted a video of Trump praising financier Charles Schwab for making billions during the rally. Pretty despicable to talk about how much money his friends made because he tanked the market for them. No shame. — Tom Stone (@Tommystone88) April 9, 2025 'Trump removed many of the tariffs he had imposed in this on-again, off-again… kind of policy. This has just wreaked havoc on the markets,' Schiff said in his video address posted on X. 'But there is another profound danger as well, and that is insider trading within the White House.' 'The question is, who knew what the president was going to do? And did people around the president trade stock knowing the incredible gyration the market was about to go through?' he added. Schiff went on to accuse Trump of corruption, citing his family's crypto trading and the 'conflicted self-dealing' of ally, billionaire Elon Musk. Is Donald Trump's inner circle illegally profiting off of these huge swings in the stock market by insider trading?Congress must find out. — Adam Schiff (@SenAdamSchiff) April 9, 2025 'We in Congress need to do more than demand answers. We need to do the oversight necessary to get those answers… We're going to get to the bottom of this,' he pledged. READ MORE: Trump admits he reacted to stock market plunge White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier claimed that the tariff reversal was part of Trump's broader negotiation strategy, calling it his 'art of the deal.' The White House has so far made no comment on Schiff's call for a congressional probe. Other Democrats also voiced concerns. 'The President of the United States is literally engaging in the world's biggest market manipulation scheme,' the House Democratic Financial Services Committee wrote on X, in response to Trump's 'Time to buy' post. Rep. Steven Horsford of Nevada openly questioned whether the pause amounted to market manipulation during a House hearing with Trump's trade representative, Jamieson Greer on Wednesday. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for all lawmakers to disclose recent stock purchases. 'I've been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor,' she wrote on X. 'Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We're about to learn a few things. It's time to ban insider trading in Congress.'
