Following the Town of Hillsborough’s decision to fly Pride flags downtown this summer, recently enforced regulations will now restrict the local government on where it can fly its flags in the future.
In April, the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to purchase and fly 30 rainbow Pride flags on Churton, King and Nash Streets during the month of June, the nationally recognized period of LGBTQ Pride.
As Pride Month was only first recognized in Hillsborough in 2019, Hillsborough Mayor Jenn Weaver said flying the pride flags was an “incredibly positive” move for the town.
“It was so meaningful to so many people of various identities,” Weaver said. “So, I feel really proud that we had those flags up.”
— Jennifer (Jenn) Weaver (@Jenn_E_Weaver) June 1, 2021
Despite an outpouring of community support, however, Weaver said Hillsborough’s Pride flags may not make an appearance downtown next June due to some formerly unenforced rules.
“An interesting and unpredicted phenomenon that occurred is that it came to light, as a result of some of the folks who were less excited about the flags, that Duke Energy does not allow flags on their electrical poles,” Weaver said.
Now, no flags will be allowed to fly on poles downtown — including the American flag, which the local municipality usually puts up multiple times a year.
“So that was a surprise and it’s not something that Duke Energy tends to — basically, I’ll just say they enforce it when it comes to their attention,” Weaver said. “So, we want to be good partners with Duke Energy and using their equipment so really we’re just engaging in conversations with them about the different forms, you know, banners instead of flags on polls, other ways to celebrate important events.”
Hillsborough is not the only Orange County town that has hit a few snags keeping its flags up over the past few months.
In October, with early voting in full swing, the Town of Carrboro received a letter from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, requesting that the town remove its Black Lives Matter flags from Town Hall.
As Town Hall is one of the local polling sites, the board said it received complaints about the flags being inside the mandatory buffer zone. North Carolina requires 50-feet apolitical zones at polling places to “protect voters from harassment and intimidation.”
While the Black Lives Matter flags will continue to fly, town hall’s future as a polling site is uncertain as another election season approaches.
