Federal judge upholds Hamtramck’s Pride flag ban, dismisses lawsuit

A federal judge on Monday upheld Hamtramck’s ban on flying Pride flags on city property, dismissing a lawsuit that argued the restriction was unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson said the city’s flagpoles are reserved for government speech, not a public forum for residents.

In his 12-page opinion, Lawson ruled against Hamtramck Human Relations Commission members Russ Gordon and Cathy Stackpoole, both of whom filed the lawsuit in November 2023. In an act of defiance, Gordon and Stackpoole displayed a Pride flag on public property on Joseph Campau Avenue on July 9. Two days later, the city council removed the pair from the commission.

As a matter of law, the plaintiffs’ claims under the First and Fourteenth Amendments fail, the judge ruled, saying the “well-settled rule that government speech in a nonpublic forum is not subject to First Amendment regulation.”

The ruling is a victory for mayor Amer Ghalib and Hamtramck’s all-Muslim city council, which in June 2023 unanimously adopted a “flag neutrality” ordinance allowing only government and national flags to be displayed on public poles. Although the resolution barred religious, political, and ethnic flags, it was widely understood to target the Pride flag after months of heated debate in the city, where more than half of the residents are believed to be Muslim.

In their lawsuit, Gordon and Stackpoole argued the flag ban violated their free speech and equal protection rights.

“It is unconstitutional for the government to select what speech will be permitted, and what speech will be prohibited, based on the content or viewpoint of the message conveyed by the speech,” the lawsuit alleged.

But Lawson rejected that argument, holding that Hamtramck was entitled to close the flagpoles to private expression and reclaim them “for government speech.”

“The First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause does not prevent the government from declining to express a view,” the judge wrote.

Lawson also dismissed claims that the ordinance favored religion or discriminated against LGBTQ+ residents, noting that the resolution only authorized American, Michigan, Hamtramck, and Prisoner of War flags, along with flags of nations reflecting the city’s international character.

“No such transparent motive to advance religiosity is patent in the resolution entered here, which did not endorse the flying of any banner representing any religious sect or creed, and where the roster of flags prescribed consists exclusively of secular standards of local, state, national, and international entities,” Lawson wrote.

City attorney Odey K. Meroueh said the decision vindicated the city’s policy.

“Today’s ruling confirms that Hamtramck has the right to decide what it communicates on its own property,” Meroueh said in a written statement. “The Court’s decision vindicates Mayor Amer Ghalib and the City Council for adopting a neutral policy that treats every group and every viewpoint the same. The plaintiffs were removed from their appointed seats on the Human Relations Commission because they knowingly violated a valid rule while acting in their official roles. This case was about neutral rules, fair enforcement, and responsible city governance, not about suppressing anyone’s speech.”

The case highlights a growing cultural clash in Hamtramck, where conservative Muslims have teamed up with right-wing groups opposing LGBTQ+ rights. Since the 2023 ban, residents have reported vandalism of Pride flags on private property and growing hostility toward LGBTQ+ people.

The ordinance reversed a 2021 council vote that allowed the Pride flag to fly outside City Hall. That decision was one of the final acts of then-Mayor Karen Majewski, who lost reelection after Ghalib campaigned against the flag policy.