Butte-Silver Bow city-county commissioners voted 11 to 1 this month to raise the rainbow flag at the county courthouse as the community has done for more than a decade, according to Heidi Doxey with the Butte Pride Foundation.
“It is a historical precedent here in town to have that flag flown outside the courthouse during June,” said Doxey.
Up until recently, whether or not Butte would be able to raise the flag was in doubt.
That’s because a new state law prohibits certain “unofficial” flags on government property, including those that reference sexual orientation or gender. What the law does allow are official city and other government flags. Earlier this month, Missoula jumped on that exemption. The city council on June 2 voted to make the rainbow Pride flag an official Missoula flag.
Doxey says that also made the flag eligible for placement at the courthouse in Butte, not strictly as a Pride flag, but as an official Missoula city flag.
“Which is fantastic news for us at the Pride Foundation,” said Doxey.
The flag is slated to remain in front of the courthouse throughout the month.
