Maryland School District Bans Pride Flags from School Property
WBFF.However, individual students will still be allowed to express their free speech rights by displaying so-called “political materials” or messages — including Pride flags — on their clothing.
The ban on flag displays was imposed in response to an April donation from a parent, Stephanie Brown, who distributed a small collection of rainbow flags to every public school in the county.
The flags were paid for by the Westminster chapter of the nonprofit PFLAG, which stands for Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.But the flags sparked outcry from some parents who balked at the idea of Pride flags being displayed in classrooms, saying that displaying such symbols amounts to proselytizing on a sensitive “political” issue or is a form of “sexualizing” children.
Some teachers also said they felt pressure to display the flags as a sign of support for LGBTQ students, placing them in an uncomfortable situation where their actions might offend parents.At an April school board meeting just a few days after Brown donated the flags, the board was deluged with requests from county residents to draft a policy banning all political flags from school grounds, reports The Baltimore Sun.At Wednesday’s six-hour-long school board meeting on the proposed policy, board members Tara Battaglia, Donna Sivigny and Kenneth Kiler rejected the idea that Pride flags signal a “safe space” or prevent bullying of LGBTQ students — a refrain echoed by many of those opposed to the ban.Sivigny called the ban a “natural extension” of the school’s political neutrality policy, which requires employees to “remain neutral on political issues, parties, and candidates during classroom instruction” and avoid discussing such issues unless they are.
