Yes,” replied Councilmember Iriarte-Moore.įor 20 years the Little Compton Town Council has flown the Armenian Flag to mark the 1915 genocide. “Given that the unofficial policy has been that the council can fly whatever flags they want, what was decided is that the Little Compton Town Council does not want to fly a pride flag, right?” asked UpriseRI. Other people thought that we can fly whatever flags we want and it’s up to the council, which has really been the unofficial policy this whole time.” “Some said they thought only the United States flag should be flown, period. “We were getting a lot of feedback from folks that on both sides, of the issue” said Councilmember Iriarte-Moore. Though the Little Compton Town Council worked to craft a flag policy, the effort ultimately went nowhere and the issue was tabled. “They view the town as having the right to fly it without any legal issues.” People are upset about it,” said Councilmember Iriarte-Moore, interviewed by telephone. “I’ve heard from folks that are a little confused because we did fly the pride flag last year with the same council – nothing’s changed. Advocates, including LGBTQ+ Coordinating Committee organizer Jenna Magnuski and Little Compton Councilmember Andrew Iriarte-Moore, counter that in absence of a new policy, the issue defaults to the Council’s previous position, approval to fly the pride flag. Hence, there is no flag policy to be in conformity with. See: Little Compton holds first official Pride celebrationĪt issue, according to Council President Mushen, was the fact that instead of adopting a flag policy, the town council tabled the motion to establish one. This year Council President Mushen was in the room and he led his fellow Republicans in voting against flying the pride flag.
All four of the town councilmembers, two Democrats and two Republicans, voted in favor. The town council had unanimously approved flying the flag last year, but last year Council President Robert Mushen was absent when the vote to fly the pride flag was taken. In November the town council approved a Pride event for the Town Commons, with food trucks (pending licenses) and the flying of the pride flag (pending conformity with the Council’s flag policy.) Little Compton’s LGBTQ+ Coordinating Committee, organizers of the Little Compton Pride Celebration, thought the town council had approved their request to fly the pride flag over the town hall for their second annual event.