At nearly midnight after more than 3 and a half hours of public comment Tuesday night, The Bozeman City Commission voted 4-1 to adopt the pride flag as an official flag of the City of Bozeman. Allowing the rainbow colored flag to fly again in compliance with a newly signed state law.
No one is quite sure exactly when the pride flag first went up outside of Bozeman city hall, including Bozeman Mayor Terry Cunningham.
“I actually talked to the mayor who raised that flag and she didn't know either”
For 3 or 4 years, the flag had flown outside Bozeman City Hall alongside official city, state and national flags. This May it was taken down to comply with a new state law. HB 819 limited the scope of flags allowed to be hung in public buildings including courthouses and schools.
In addition to hundreds of submitted written comments, Bozeman residents packed the City chambers to capacity Tuesday evening to speak on the issue.
Rowan Larson told commissioners they were nervous initially about moving to Montana
“The pride flag is what told me it was safe, that Bozeman was inclusive, and that there was a place for me to be here.” Larson said.
The disagreements remained civil throughout the night.
Darren Boihem said he appreciated hearing the impact the flag had made.
“That's wonderful that's how we should represent ourselves on our own land our own businesses, not the city’s” Boihem said.
Commissioner Emma Bode said the City’s history of flying the flag and policies of inclusion meant taking the flag down was not a neutral act.
“This is not just a controversial effort to raise the pride flag. It’s a decision about whether to permanently take it down.”
Commissioner Douglas Fischer was the only no vote on the resolution, saying he disagreed with the state law, but thought the issue was too divisive to support.
"We took the wedge the legislature handed us and we drove it right into the center of this community. " Fischer said.
The flag was raised again Wednesday morning following the vote, and will fly for an undetermined amount of time under the discretion of the Mayor and City Manager.
