Andy Naquin, a Republican Lafayette,
Louisiana city councilman, has proposed a ban on flying the Gay Pride
flag from government property.
Naquin began drafting a proposed bill
after a constituent, Ray Green, complained about a photo in his local
paper of the rainbow flag being hoisted in Girard Park for the annual
Pride in the Park celebration.
“I did not go overseas and fight for
our country so that we could come back and be subject to something
like that,” Green, a Korean War veteran, told
the Daily
Advertiser. “Several of us [veterans] feel that the flying
of this flag is a poke in the eye of a way of life.”
Naquin's bill seeks to prohibit the
flying of any non-governmental flag on government property. However,
it appears as if the Mardi Gras flag might be exempt.
Amanda Kelly of the Acadiana OUTspoken
Alliance said that such a prohibition seemed “like a violation of
freedom of speech” and noted that her organization also included
many veterans. “We fought for this country, too,” she said.