Governor Jared Polis (D-CO) said Wednesday on “CNN Primetime” that school children should be able to display a “Gadsden flag” or a “Pride flag” because “that’s what it’s all about, to be an American.”
Discussing a child in Colorado initially being told he can not have a Gadsden symbol on his backpack, anchor Abby Phillip said, “You’ve called the Gadsden flag a proud symbol of the American revolution. What do you make of why this incident happened in the first place?”
Polis said, “Well, look, I call it a teaching moment. You know, Abby, we all remember high school, college, you know, there’s kids with pins on their backpacks. Maybe it’s a feminist pin, an anti-war pin or maybe it’s a conservative one and you know, that enriches the discussion, right? Kids are trying out different things and you know, the ‘Don’t tread on me’ flag, the Gadsden flag is really an iconic American flag. It’s flown over units of our military. You know, it’s of course, has it been adopted by the Tea Party and others. Sure but a kid could have ‘I Love the Tea Party’ pin on their backpack, too. I mean, look, let’s just let kids have their free expression in school, and if they want to advocate for their political beliefs, I think that’s something that should be encouraged. It’s all about free speech.”
He continued, “If we want the moral high ground, Abby, to say that schools shouldn’t be banning rainbow flags on kids binders or backpacks to celebrate Pride, we have to also say they should be banning free speech on the other side. This is a country that treasures free speech.”
Polis added, “Some people on the left are saying we see the right censoring our speech. Schools where they say don’t say gay, going against a woman’s right to choose, they say, we should do the same thing to them. That’s just not the right answer. The right answer, the moral high ground is to say, we should treasure speech in all of its forms. Whatever your argument is you ought to be able to make it as you fly a ‘Don’t tread on me’ flag or a you fly a Pride flag. That’s your right. That’s what it’s all about, to be an American.”
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