A small New Brunswick village has taken down a “straight flag” after fierce outrage from the community and beyond.
The flag was raised in Chipman, located about an hour east of Fredericton, during a ceremony on Sunday.
Less than 24 hours later, on Monday afternoon, the flag was taken down and replaced with a Canadian flag.
Many people took to social media to condemn the decision by council to raise it in the first place.
Some had even threatened to boycott businesses in the village of 1,100 people until the flag was taken down.
In a statement late Monday afternoon, village council said it has removed the flag as a result of “unintentional attention” and based on feedback from citizens.
Stefanie Bouchard, a member of the LGBTQ+ community in Fredericton, said she was in disbelief after hearing about the flag being flown in the village.
“I didn’t really think that an organization would go so far to put their homophobia on such blatant display in a small town in New Brunswick,” Bouchard told our newsroom on Monday.
Bouchard said Chipman’s decision to raise a straight flag shows there is a fundamental misunderstanding as to why LGBTQ+ pride exists.
“The Pride flag represents years of struggle and fighting for basic civil liberties and the continued struggle that youth face to discover and assert their identity,” she said.
Bouchard said the straight flag is nothing more than a “what about me” reaction and many people do not understand what kind of equality the movement is looking for.
“Straight people, obviously, have never suffered, their actions have never been illegal, their relationships have never been questioned by society as a whole,” she said. “If they’ve never struggled, why do they need to assert their equality.”
The village of Chipman, meantime, said it remains a welcoming and opening community for people of all ages and orientations.
(Photo submitted by The White Manor)
Story by Brad Perry
Twitter: @BradMPerry
Email: perry.brad@radioabl.ca
