A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed against the city of Hamtramck over its ban on Pride flags being flown on city-owned flagpoles.
The case, brought in 2023 by former Human Relations Commission members Russ Gordon and Cathy Stackpoole, challenged the city council’s decision to restrict flag displays to only a handful of official banners, including the American flag, the Michigan flag, and flags representing Hamtramck’s international community. They argued the ban unfairly targeted the LGBTQ+ community and said they were wrongly dismissed from the commission after raising a Pride flag in defiance of the policy.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge David Lawson ruled that the city’s flag policy does not violate the Constitution. He found that the rule applies equally to all private flags, regardless of content, making it a neutral restriction rather than an attempt to silence one group.
Lawson’s decision not only settles the Hamtramck dispute but also sets a precedent. Cities now have the legal right to ban certain flags from city property if their elected councils vote to do so, provided the bans are neutral and across the board. The one exception is government flags, such as the U.S. and state flags, which cannot legally be banned under federal and state law.
With the dismissal entered “with prejudice,” the lawsuit is permanently closed and cannot be refiled. The judge’s ruling means Hamtramck’s flag ban will remain in place, and the city retains the right to limit displays on public property to only those flags it authorizes.
The fight over the issue has divided the community for more than two years. For now, the city’s controversial ban is settled law, and efforts to overturn it in the courts have officially come to an end.
