No more pride flag? Downey to consider flag policy

Then-Mayor Blanca Pacheco, with then-Councilwoman Catherine Alvarez, raise the pride flag at Downey City Hall in 2021.

DOWNEY – Mayor Pro Tem Hector Sosa on Tuesday asked city staff to “agendize a conversation” on the subject of a neutral flag policy, and what litigation the city could potentially expose itself to in the absence of adopting one.

A neutral flag policy would ban the flying of nongovernmental flags on city buildings.

Voters in Huntington Beach approved a similar measure last month. Critics – notably within the LGBTQ+ community – called it discriminatory.

Sosa’s request came after a handful of residents Tuesday lobbied for a flag policy.

The City of Downey flies four flags – the American, state, city and MIA-POW flags – year-round. In 2021, the city council voted to fly the LGBTQ Pride flag every June.