LGBTQ+ Great Yarmouth Borough Council workers have welcomed a decision to fly the Progress Pride flag at the Town Hall, despite the town’s Reform UK MP, Rupert Lowe, saying the flag should not be flown from public sector buildings as it promoted “gender identity ideology”.
Following Lowe’s comments on X, formerly Twitter, Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s Conservative cabinet then voted to fly the flag at the Town Hall and said it had cross-party support.
Council leader Carl Smith said staff members had messaged him to say how they appreciated the support.
“It’s our building and we fly lots of different flags here and we’ve done this to support the LGBTQ+ community [over] the hateful comments that have been made,” he said.
“We’ve had praise from our staff who are from the LGBTQ+ community that we are showing them our support against what has been said, and the hateful comments that have been made towards them because of [Lowe’s] comments about flying these flags from public buildings.”
In the July 2024 general election, Lowe won Reform UK a seat in Parliament after standing for the Great Yarmouth constituency, gaining 35.3% of the vote, beating Labour into second place.
Writing on X, Lowe said: “This flag should not be on display in hospitals, schools and other public sector institutions. If private individuals wish to display their views, that’s fine – but not when taxpayer money is involved. Keep politics out of the public sector.”
The Progress Pride flag was developed in 2018 by non-binary American artist and designer Daniel Quasar. Based on the iconic rainbow flag from 1978, the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community and calls for a more inclusive society.