Butte Considers Flying Pride Flag as County Attorney Affirms Legality
Butte-Silver Bow County Attorney Matthew Enrooth said Missoula provided a "roadmap" for Montana counties to fly a pride flag.
The Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners on Wednesday will consider a request by the Butte Pride Foundation to continue the tradition of flying the pride flag at its courthouse in June.
Last week, Heidi Doxey, the president of the foundation, sent a letter to Butte-Silver Bow Local Government, making this request 11 days after Missoula adopted the pride flag as its official city flag.
In May, the state passed House Bill (HB) 819, which prevents state properties from flying flags that express a political viewpoint towards a “political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or political ideology.”
The Missoula City Council said it followed HB 819, which doesn’t prevent municipalities from displaying official municipality flags.
In her letter, Doxey stated Butte’s rich history “is inextricably linked to championing diversity in many forms.” She added that Butte has always been a welcoming place for people from all backgrounds.
“Welcoming diversity is one of Butte-Silver Bow's greatest strengths, we are a community characterized by inclusion and resilience,” she explained.
Doxey referenced the pride flag as embodying the symbols of the 2014 law Butte-Silver Bow passed that banned discrimination against all genders and sexual orientations.
“We sincerely hope the Commissioners vote to continue to display the pride flag proudly over Butte-Silver Bow this month,” she noted.
In response to this letter, Matthew Enrooth, the county attorney for Butte-Silver Bow, issued a memorandum that said Missoula’s resolution provided a “clear roadmap for other Montana counties or cities seeking to fly the pride flag legally.”
“HB 819 expressly permits the display of ‘official government flags,’ and Missoula's legislative designation clearly places the pride flag within that category,” he added.
Enrooth stated Montana counties don’t need to adopt resolutions “to authorize the display of the pride flag.”
“By flying the official flag of the City of Missoula—an incorporated municipality within the State of Montana other jurisdictions are displaying a government-recognized symbol, not a partisan or advocacy flag,” the county attorney explained.
“This distinction is critical under HB 819's language and purpose, which aims to prohibit displays of ideological symbols unless officially sanctioned by a government entity,” he added.
Enrooth said counties attempting to fly the pride flag can reference Missoula’s designation of the flag.
“As with flying the Montana state flag or U.S. flag, which are official symbols adopted by other levels of government, counties may recognize and display Missoula's official flag without taking independent legislative action,” he stated.
Enrooth noted this approach gives a “legally defensible path” for counties to display the pride flag, abide by HB 819’s exemptions and reflect “solidarity with LGBTQ+ residents and communities across Montana.”
Butte is not the only city considering how it can fly the pride flag.
In Helena, the state’s capital, its city leaders have discussed whether it could fly the pride flag. Assistant City Attorney Matthew Petesch told the city commission on Monday that it could follow the same process Missoula did and adopt the pride flag as the city’s official flag.
State Rep. Braxton Mitchell (R-Columbia Falls), who sponsored HB 819, previously told The Montana Chronicles that he would update the new state law next session to prevent municipalities from adopting a flag that expresses a political or ideological viewpoint as their official flag.
He said the actions taken by the Missoula City Council did violate HB 819.
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Zachery Schmidt is the founder of The Montana Chronicles. If you have any tips, please send them to montanachronicles@proton.me.