As the US Supreme court returns to the bench today, one of their upcoming cases involves a backlash against the LGBTQ Pride flag flying over Boston City Hall.
SCOTUS has agreed to hear a case filed by the anti-LGBTQ Liberty Counsel to reverse a First Court of Appeals decision denying a right to fly a Christian flag over Boston City Hall because other flags, such as the Pride flag, the Transgender flag and the Juneteenth flag, have been raised there.
The Liberty Council is “a legal organization advocating for anti-LGBT discrimination under the guise of religious liberty,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
For its part, “The City of Boston maintains a policy and practice of respectfully refraining from flying nonsecular flags on the City Hall flagpoles,” explained City Hall Property Manager Gregory Rooney, as reported back in June by LGBTQ Nation.
“This policy and practice is consistent with well-established First Amendment jurisprudence prohibiting a local government from ‘respecting an establishment of religion.’ This policy and practice is also consistent with the City’s legal authority to choose how a limited government resource, like the City Hall flagpoles, is used,” Rooney said.
A federal judge and the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit both rejected Liberty Counsel’s arguments.
Nevertheless, SCOTUS “has agreed to hear the case, which may mean that Liberty Counsel could still win. Six of the nine Supreme Court justices are conservative and several have past associations with extreme Christian conservative organizations,” reports LGBTQ Nation in an Oct. 1 update.
The Court will hear the case early next year and issue a ruling by June.
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