Bristol To Allow Only U.S., State Flags To Be Flown On Municipal Property

By Brian M. Johnson, The Bristol Press

June 17, 2022

The City Council voted Tuesday to allow only U.S. and state flags to be flown on municipal property and to move forward with several building projects.

The change to the city’s flag policy was unanimously approved Tuesday and will go into effect in 14 days. Several towns, including Southington, have voted to adopt similar policies recently.

“We don’t want to discriminate against anybody and we also don’t want to put the city in jeopardy for freedom of speech violations if we agree to fly one flag and not another,” Caggiano said. “There was recently a case in Boston where this happened.”

In the Boston case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of conservative activist Harold Shurtleff this year when he said that the city violated his first amendment religious free exercise rights by refusing to allow them to temporarily raise a Christian flag on the flagpole outside of the Boston City Hall. The city had previously allowed other organizations to raise secular flags on the same flagpole.

In Bristol, Tom Berrill, who represents the Interfaith Coalition for the Preservation of Marriage and Innocence, also asked the city council to fly a flag representing Christian values at city hall after a gay pride flag was raised there.

Caggiano clarified that the Bristol Veterans Council could also designate appropriate military flags that could also be flown on Memorial Boulevard and in local parks.

Brian M. Johnson can be reached at 860-973-1806 or bjohnson@bristolpress.com.