MIAMI — A year after Surfside flew an LGBTQ Pride flag for the first time outside its Community Center, the town does not plan to display the rainbow-colored flag for Pride month in June.
Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger told the Miami Herald he does not support displaying the flag this year after Town Attorney Lillian Arango advised him that doing so could force the town to accept requests from outside groups to display their flags.
Danzinger said he supports LGBTQ Pride month, but fears the town may risk having to fly swastikas or Satanic flags — or risk a lawsuit.
He mentioned the possibility of “Satanic cults” or other groups pushing for “a black cross or swastika” flag.
“You’re opening yourself up to these elements, which I’d really like to keep away from,” he said. “It’s not that it’s not allowed, it’s either all or none and we didn’t want to open it up.”
In a May 3 email to Danzinger and other officials, Arango shared a link to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that said the city of Boston could not reject a request from a Christian group to display its flag outside City Hall.
“Very interesting case – it brings to mind when the Town raised the pride flag at Town Hall and we opened the door to have to allow other flags,” Arango wrote.
Arango did not explain further, and she has not released a formal opinion. But Danzinger said he was advised that the Supreme Court ruling may now embolden outside groups to force the town into displaying their flags.
In a statement, Surfside spokesman Frank Trigueros confirmed the town would not display the Pride flag this year. He said the town does not have a written flag policy but its long-standing practice is to only permit town or government flags to be flown, with the exception of last year.
“Since this issue has been raised, the Administration will bring this matter to the Commission to reaffirm past practices and policy,” he said.
The Supreme Court ruling deals with government speech versus private speech. The court ruled that Boston’s policy, which invited private groups to request to display their flags, did not constitute government speech so the city could not reject one application over another.
Unlike the Boston situation, Surfside raised the Pride flag last June after then-Vice Mayor Tina Paul formally requested it as an elected leader.
This year’s decision for Surfside not to fly the Pride flag upset some gay residents, including Paul, who questioned why Miami-Dade County and neighboring Miami Beach felt comfortable raising the flags despite the Supreme Court ruling.
“This is just crazy,” said Paul, who is no longer on the commission. Danzinger defeated Paul in the mayor’s race in March.
Orlando Gonzales, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group SAVE, said it was “disappointing” to see Surfside’s opposition to raising the Pride flag.
“We look to our cities to signal to its residents that they are welcomed and respected,” he said in a statement. “I hope the leadership of Surfside course corrects this decision.”
Miami Beach Chief Deputy City Attorney Rob Rosenwald told the Herald that local governments have the “authority to fly flags that advance its values, if the government maintains control over which flags are flown.”
“Consistent with our long-standing values, the City of Miami Beach proudly flies the rainbow Pride Flag 24 hours per day and 365 days per year,” he wrote in an email.
Danzinger said apart from his legal concerns, he felt like having the Pride flag was not a high priority for residents — except from one or two people he heard from — and he didn’t want the town to make symbolic gestures for broad causes that don’t relate to town business.
He asked why the town didn’t have an anti-slavery flag or a heterosexual flag.
“Why doesn’t everybody else have a flag?”
Danzinger said he would have considered the flag display had there been notice ahead of time and if there was an outcry from the community.
Surfside resident Gerardo Vildostegui, a former law professor, said he asked town officials — including Danzinger — in early May about the flag raising. He said Arango’s reading of the court opinion is “completely inaccurate” and questioned why the town did not look further into the Pride event.
Vildostegui, who is gay, said seeing the Pride flag last year brought him joy because he grew up in Surfside during a time when homosexuality was not publicly discussed.
“That’s what discrimination feels like,” he said. “The very actions of the town shows the need for this.”
Vildostegui said he isn’t giving up yet. The next Surfside commission meeting is June 28, but commissioners have the authority to schedule special meetings. Last year, the flag went up July 16 without a vote from the commission — just an email from Paul to Town Manager Andy Hyatt.
“June is only half over,” Vildostegui said. “Nothing is stopping us from doing this now.”
