news Detroit-area city bans Pride flags on public property

[rzal]

[arceus]

5 hours ago, rzal said:

[Talento]

In 2015, many liberal residents in Hamtramck, Michigan, celebrated as their city attracted international attention for becoming the first in the United States to elect a Muslim-majority city council.

 

They viewed the power shift and diversity as a symbolic but meaningful rebuke of the Islamophobic rhetoric that was a central theme of then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign.

 

This week many of those same residents watched in dismay as a now fully Muslim and socially conservative city council passed legislation banning Pride flags from being flown on city property that had – like many others being flown around the country – been intended to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

 

Muslim residents packing city hall erupted in cheers after the council’s unanimous vote, and on Hamtramck’s social media pages, the taunting has been relentless: “Fagless City”, read one post, emphasized with emojis of a bicep flexing.

 

In a tense monologue before the vote, Councilmember Mohammed Hassan shouted his justification at LGBTQ+ supporters: “I’m working for the people, what the majority of the people like.”

 

While Hamtramck is still viewed as a bastion of multiculturalism, the difficulties of local governance and living among neighbors with different cultural values quickly set in following the 2015 election. Some leaders and residents are now bitter political enemies engaged in a series of often vicious battles over the city’s direction, and the Pride flag controversy represents a crescendo in tension.

 

“There’s a sense of betrayal,” said the former Hamtramck mayor Karen Majewski, who is Polish American. “We supported you when you were threatened, and now our rights are threatened, and you’re the one doing the threatening.”

 

For about a century, Polish and Ukrainian Catholics dominated politics in Hamtramck, a city of 28,000 surrounded by Detroit. By 2013, largely Muslim Bangladeshi and Yemeni immigrants supplanted the white eastern Europeans, though the city remains home to significant populations of those groups, as well as African Americans, whites and Bosnian and Albanian Americans. According to the 2020 census some 30% to 38% of Hamtramck’s residents are of Yemeni descent, and 24% are of Asian descent, largely Bangladeshi.

 

After several years of diversity on the council, some see irony in an all-male, Muslim elected government that does not reflect the city’s makeup.

 

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/17/hamtramck-michigan-muslim-council-lgbtq-pride-flags-banned

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Talento

[Communion]

Y'all don't even be reading before you post anymore.  There's multiple threads for the same 3 topics on the 1st page of Civics alone. 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Communion

[Talento]

2 minutes ago, Communion said:

Y'all don't even be reading before you post anymore. 

 

 

This thread is about the reaction to the decision, particularly the quote from the ex-mayor, but thanks!

 

No need to lash out and act so bothered, I think the more LGBT people know about this the better no?  

[Mezik]

Maybe we should stop promoting Ramadan and call to prayers.

 

If I can’t live my life as a gay man freely, why should Muslims be able to freely promote their hate?

[Monster Megamind]

36 minutes ago, Mezik said:

Maybe we should stop promoting Ramadan and call to prayers.

 

If I can’t live my life as a gay man freely, why should Muslims be able to freely promote their hate?

Exactly! And I hope Biden administration stops immigration of working class people from Muslim countries. Only educated people allowed.

[Monster Megamind]

Singapore forces it's Chinese, Malay and Indian population to intermingle. That's the only way to reduce bigotry. We should focus on this in this next decade.

[Maneater]

I mean you get what you vote for 

[Monster Megamind]

Dearborn and Hamtramck have already started voting less for Dems in 2022 because of the trans panic. Gretchen Whitmers win statewide was huge but she won less votes in these cities compared to 2018. Even Rashida Tlaib got less votes compared to 2020. Absolute betrayal. Liberals should become alert by these trends. Right now white liberals are literally saving this country from religious fascism...

[305]

Disgusting, hopefully they get voted out and pushed out of the city tbh

[Bloodflowers.]

Seeing as other residents are of Polish, Ukranian, Albanian and Bosnian origins, I doubt that town is much of LGBT utopia to begin with or without Muslims.

 

[Monster Megamind]

5 minutes ago, 305 said:

Disgusting, hopefully they get voted out and pushed out of the city tbh

How? It's a Muslim majority city now 😀

[Monster Megamind]

I wonder what future travesty will be caused by the 100k Afghan refugees 

[khalyan]

I merged the two threads together

[SmittenCake]

12 minutes ago, Monster Megamind said:

I wonder what future travesty will be caused by the 100k Afghan refugees 

I see nothing wrong with 100K Afghans coming to America to seek refuge and live a better life. 

[Monster Megamind]

6 minutes ago, SmittenCake said:

I see nothing wrong with 100K Afghans coming to America to seek refuge and live a better life. 

You think I have a problem with that? But if they get their bigoted views along with them, that is a huge problem.

[Monster Megamind]

There is a reason why Indian Americans are far more progressive. They are highly educated. They integrate into the Country's values well and can think beyond their own religion... They should be emulated!

[Ryan]

35 minutes ago, Monster Megamind said:

I wonder what future travesty will be caused by the 100k Afghan refugees 

This is a fine line you’re walking. 

[Monster Megamind]

21 minutes ago, Ryan said:

This is a fine line you’re walking. 

This is directly related to the topic in discussion. 

[Communion]

1 hour ago, Monster Megamind said:

Even Rashida Tlaib got less votes compared to 2020. 

Just for anyone interested in truth, statements like this are knowingly dishonest because this person out of anyone knows that Michigan lost a congressional seat leading into 2022 and thus multiple Democrats had to district-jump, including Tlaib who went from running in the old District 13 (left) to the new District 12 (right):

 

Her new district makeup now including conservative suburbs west of Livonia (92% White census in Michigan of all places) that she didn't previously represent:

 

So yes, even Orthodox, older generation Muslims who are at odds with their progressive Muslim representative (that Rashida remains pro-LGBT despite conservative voices in parts of Michigan's Muslim communities undercuts this claim as well) end up still being a more reliable voter base than the wealthy, Republican white suburbs just a few miles away. 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Communion

[Monster Megamind]

8 minutes ago, Communion said:

Just for anyone interested in truth, statements like this are knowingly dishonest because this person out of anyone knows that Michigan lost a congressional seat leading into 2022 and thus multiple Democrats had to district-jump, including Tlaib who went from running in the old District 13 (left) to the new District 12 (right):

 

Her new district makeup now including conservative suburbs west of Livonia (92% White census in Michigan of all places) that she didn't previously represent:

 

So yes, even Orthodox, older generation Muslims who are at odds with their progressive Muslim representative (that Rashida remains pro-LGBT despite conservative voices in parts of Michigan's Muslim communities undercuts this claim as well) end up still being a more reliable voter base than the wealthy, Republican white suburbs just a few miles away. 

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Monster Megamind

[Monster Megamind]

 

[Monster Megamind]

Fascist Tudor Dixon got more votes than Trump! That too in a midterm!

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Monster Megamind

[WEEKND]

This is Detroit lol