An Adelaide city council has today voted 6-5 to haul down a corporate flag of the city flying outside its office and replace it in perpetuity with a rainbow ‘LGBTIQ’ flag.
Councillor Tom Pfeiffer of the city of Marion, a district of Adelaide in South Australia told local paper Adelaide Now the move, which he proposed, would be an outwardly visible sign that “acceptance for everyone is just business as usual for us in our community”. The city office has six flagpoles arranged on the lawn outside which already fly flags catering to nearly every interest, including the ‘blue ensign’ national Australian flag, the flag of South Australia, the Aboriginal flag, Torres Straight Islands flag and city flags.
An image from the City of Adelaide’s own publicity surrounding the ‘Feast Festival’ / Adelaide City Council Photo
The city flew the rainbow flag last year for the ‘Feast’ festival, “Adelaide’s lesbian and gay culture festival” which runs for three weeks every year in the Autumn. The suggestion to fly it permanently arose when it was considering the coming of this year’s celebrations.
Pfeiffer said of the decision: “We’re not doing it for publicity. We’re doing it because we want people to know that our community is one of equality, love and acceptance.
“It was a proud moment.”
The leader of Marion council echoed the comments of his activist colleague, and remarked that “all councils” followed their example: “For some it’s just a flag.
“For others it’s a symbol of acceptance, safety and recognition in a world that can be very harsh, so we hope this program can unite SA in celebrating diversity and inclusion together”.