Montana GOP angered after city outsmarts their new statewide Pride flag ban

[Jessica_Rose]

Montana GOP angered after city outsmarts their new statewide Pride flag ban

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/montana-gop-angered-after-city-outsmarts-their-new-statewide-pride-flag-ban/ar-AA1G6rGv?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=baf1c77807264555be9c31ed52a7eafc&ei=129

Story by Daniel Villarreal (4 June 2025)

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) and state Republican legislators are angry that the city of Missoula has figured out a way to get around their ban on flying Pride flags on government property: by following the law and declaring the rainbow flag as their official city flag.

On Monday, the Missoula City Council approved a resolution recognizing the Pride flag as the only official city flag, according to KECI. The city's attorney Ryan Sudbury noted that the city had no other official flag before Monday and that the city can still approve other flags as official banners. Other cities have taken similar moves to circumvent their own state's Pride flag bans.

The city's resolution came in response to House Bill 819, which Gianforte signed into law on May 13. The law allegedly restricts any flags that "represent a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or political ideology" from being flown on government property and public schools.

However, the law has exceptions for the flying of the Confederate flag — a racist banner that shows support for owning Black slaves — as well as for the "official" flags of "any county, municipality, special district, or other political subdivision within the state."

The Missoula City Council passed the resolution for the new flag in a 9-2 vote on Monday.

[Mrs. Oliphant]

The Missoula City Council passed the resolution for the new flag in a 9-2 vote on Monday.

I was in Missoula today for an appointment with Planned Parenthood. Pride banners were on every corner and I took a pic of a sign in a church window proclaiming: Trans People Belong in Montana. If Missoula, Montana, was a microcosm of the world, the world would be a much better place.