The City of Salisbury, Md., will not fly the Pride flag outside the city office building in downtown Salisbury. This will mark the first time in five years that a Pride flag will not fly at the city’s office for Pride month. 

Randolph J. Taylor, the mayor of Salisbury, told the Blade that the choice not to raise the flag was based on being “fair” and “transparent.”

“The administration’s position on the PFLAG kick-off is very simple,” Taylor said to the Blade in an email. “That is, to be neutral. Neutrality is not to be interpreted as anything else but simply that — being neutral.“

Taylor explained that the decision to appear more neutral was not to single out one particular group. “This is an approach the City has and will take with any other event held in the City of Salisbury as we entertain more than 100 events a year from a variety of groups and causes.”

Taylor concluded his statement with good wishes for PFLAG, the LGBTQ human rights organization that previously collaborated with the mayor on the flag raising and recently relocated within Salisbury.

“I am glad PFLAG has a new location on Carroll St. for its kick-off,” Taylor said. “The City of Salisbury wishes the event good luck!”

Nicole Hollywood, legislative chair for PFLAG Salisbury, said the decision not to promote cultural events using “city assets,” which includes the city’s flagpoles and street lamps, could impact longstanding celebrations of cultural heritage in the city. 

“We simply got an email saying that ‘we’re evaluating the use of city assets for cultural events,’ and ‘we don’t feel it’s appropriate moving forward to hang flags that represent special interest groups,’” Hollywood told the Blade regarding the denied request for flying the flag. “We were disheartened and made a statement saying that the planned event, which has occurred for a number of years always on the same day in the same location, is temporarily postponed until we could find an alternative.”

Hollywood continued, explaining that she, and other supporters of the LGBTQ community, have plans to bring the issue to the city council’s attention. She hopes to get a more standardized approach to the vetting of cultural events, like the Pride flag raising, in Salisbury. 

“We do have a request that we’ll be making in front of the city council, which is simply that a structure be put in place that’s uniform and equitable, that’s used to vet applications for flag raisings and other civic and cultural events,” she explained. “It isn’t clear, at this time, who exactly holds authority over city assets.”

In addition to her concerns regarding the current “murky” methods of approval for cultural events, Hollywood also highlighted her fears for the future of the Pride crosswalk in Salisbury. 

The crosswalk, which includes the classic rainbow Pride flag, the updated progressive Pride flag (that comprises the colors of the classic Pride flag, transgender pride flag, and stripes of black and brown to recognize people of color in the LGBTQ community), as well as a transgender flag, was the first to be installed in Maryland. 

Hollywood fears that if the city re-evaluates the crosswalks, it could be the beginning of the end of outward support for the LGBTQ community on any public land. 

“We think that it’s been a beacon of hope to people in the community having this rainbow, the trans, and progress Pride crosswalks,” Hollywood said. “We really want to protect and steward their existence because we know that if they’re painted over, or erased, that it won’t be as easy to get them back.”

Despite the shift in attitude from the city, some in the community have pledged to show their support in full force. The downtown business alliance in Salisbury, which works to foster growth for business in Salisbury, has encouraged its members to fly rainbow flags on private property in solidarity with PFLAG. 

“We’re trying to get as many people as possible to feel that they have a voice,” Hollywood said. “To feel that they’re included and to find other ways that we could celebrate queer joy.”