The Swedish district of Hörby will no longer fly the LGBT pride flag on municipal property after the populist Sweden Democrats-led local government enforced a new flag policy.
Cecilia Bladh in Zito, the Sweden Democrats mayor of Hörby, explained that the municipality would only fly the Swedish national flag, the local municipal flag, and flags of other countries.
“The Swedish flag includes everyone, and that is why it is the flag that is raised in Hörby,” Bladh in Zito told Swedish broadcaster SVT. She added: “We don’t want to raise flags that don’t represent everyone in the municipality, and the pride flag is just one of them.”
Renaldo Tirone, a member of the opposing Social Democrats, criticised the decision, saying: “I think this is a purely ideological decision. Last term, we decided to honour the minorities that exist in Sweden and LGBTQ communities. Hörby has a bad brand already, and I don’t think this improves it.”
Swedish Migrant Majority Region Takes Down Pride Flags Daily Due to Sabotage https://t.co/CBSD1UeD0J
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 4, 2018
Last year, Sölvesborg town council also decided to stop flying the pride flag. Led by a centre-right coalition, local Sweden Democrats politician Louise Erixon explained that the policy was a return to tradition.
“For us, tradition is important, and I know that many of our older residents share this view,” she said.
In 2018, the municipality of Södertälje also took down pride flags in the evenings for a different reason. The migrant-majority area had seen repeated thefts and vandalism of the pride flags, including at least one instance of a flag being set on fire.
Sweden has long held a reputation as being one of the most progressive and pro-LGBT countries in Europe. The Church of Sweden not only supports the community, but even hung up an LGBT-themed painting of Jesus Christ in the St Pauli church in Malmö earlier this year.
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