LGBTQ+ activists are raising money to help support a federal lawsuit challenging the city of Hamtramck’s Pride flag ban on the grounds that it violates free speech rights and numerous other state and federal laws.
The GoFundMe campaign seeks to raise at least $10,000 to assist in paying for the growing costs of the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit in November 2023.
As of Wednesday afternoon, more than $5,000 has been raised.
“In honor of Pride month, we are asking everyone to share this Gofundme campaign with all of your friends, hold a party at your house, at your favorite bar or your church,” one of the plaintiff’s, Cathy Stackpoole, wrote in the campaign. “Anywhere your friends gather and tell them we are fighting for a separation of church and state and pushing back against anti-gay legislation and we need help!”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Stackpoole and Russ Gordon, who were fired from the Hamtramck Human Relations Commission in July 2023, a month after the all-Muslim city council unanimously approved a ban on all religious, ethnic, racial, and political flags. The impetus for the ban was the Pride flag, which many local Muslims complained was an affront to their religion.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Marc M. Susselman, argues the ban violates the First Amendment right to free speech and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
“It is unconstitutional for government to select what speech will be permitted, and what speech will be prohibited, based on the content or viewpoint of the message conveyed by the speech,” the lawsuit states.
The goal of the lawsuit is to overturn the flag ban and reinstate Gordon and Stackpoole, who displayed a pride flag on public property on Joseph Campau Avenue in an act of defiance on July 9. Police removed the flag, and the council removed the two commission members.
“When we win this suit, all funds raised will cover the cost of the lawsuit and will go to support the presence of a Pride flag in Hamtramck,” Stackpoole wrote on GoFundMe.
Activists say the lawsuit is getting expensive because the plaintiffs must depose city officials, who have claimed there were no emails or notes exchanged between Mayor Amer Ghalib and the city council members.
“There is presently a motion before the court requiring that the depositions go forward,” Stackpoole said.
The campaign is offering gifts to donors. The first 100 people to donate $100 will receive a T-shirt with a “Raise ALL the Flags” logo.
More than half of the money contributed so far — $2,500 — came from the Gilbert Baker Foundation , a group named after the rainbow flag’s designer. Thirty other people donated between $10 and $300, as of Wednesday afternoon.
Since the ban, dozens of Pride flags on private property have been vandalized, and residents in the diverse city say they feel alienated and maligned by conservative Muslims who view homosexuality as a sin and peddle false narratives about children being indoctrinated in schools.
More than half of Hamtramck’s residents are believed to be Muslim. In January 2022, Hamtramck became the first city in the U.S. to have an all-Muslim city council. The mayor is also Muslim.
Tensions between conservative Muslims and progressive began to simmer in the summer of 2021, when then-Mayor Karen Majewski broke a 3-3 city council tie to fly a Pride flag outside of City Hall.
A backlash ensued as conservative Muslims began to complain. Ghalib, a health care worker and Muslim immigrant from Yemen, made the flag a campaign issue and handily defeated Majewski, a four-term mayor, in November 2021.
When the council voted to ban Pride flags in June, conservative Muslims clashed with LGBTQ+ residents and their allies, with some shouting homophobic slurs. Since then, local Muslims have joined forces with conservative Republicans , pledging to create an alliance to oppose LGBTQ+ rights. The coalition is propelled by unsubstantiated claims that public schools are “grooming” and indoctrinating impressionable children.
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