Montana city makes Pride flag an official flag 

Missoula, a western Montana city of approximately 78,000, approved a resolution 9-2 this week to make the Pride flag an official city flag. 

The resolution doesn’t require the flag to be flown on government properties. However, it will allow city-owned buildings, including schools, to fly it. 

Councilor Jennifer Savage introduced the resolution to show support for the LGBT community, she said. 

“It’s important to be able to come forward and stand up for this community. It’s always urgent to me as the mother of a gay daughter. So that’s why I’m bringing this forward now,” she said during the meeting, according to NonStopLocal. 

Councilor Sandra Vaseka, who voted against the measure, said the government should remain neutral on such matters. 

“There are a lot of ways as an individual to represent what matters to you without it being an official government stance,” she said. “I do encourage everyone to proudly display who they are and what they believe in, if that’s what you want to do. That was mentioned a lot this evening that Missoula does accept everyone, and I absolutely agree with that.” 

The move comes after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed legislation last month banning government entities from displaying flags that “represent a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender or political ideology.” 

“It’s an interpretation of what does it mean to be an official flag of the City of Missoula,” Missoula City Attorney Ryan Sudbury told KPAX. “If the bill wanted to clearly prohibit cities from adopting official flags that may also express political viewpoints or something, they could have done that. But they didn’t clearly do that in the bill.” 

Gov. Gianforte blasted the City Council for approving this proposal, calling it “divisive.” 

“Last night, nine members of the Missoula City Council made clear their top priority is flying a divisive pride flag over government buildings and schools – all while ignoring the city’s housing affordability crisis, raising taxes by 17% because of overspending, and refusing to take firm action to end encampments in the city,” he posted on Facebook. “Missoulians deserve better, and fortunately, two council members voted against imposing this divisive, far-left agenda on their community.”