After a rainbow flag was flown outside a suburban public library, aldermen for the Des Plaines City Council have reportedly approved new rules that allow them to dictate which flags can be raised over city-owned or leased property.
The new policy allows only flags of the United States, state of Illinois and city of Des Plaines and the POW-MIA flag to be flown over municipal sites, according to the Daily Herald. Any other request for flags to be flown must get approval from the city council.
Alderman Jim Brookman reportedly proposed the policy following a rainbow flag flying outside the Des Plaines Public Library in honor of the Orland terror attack victims. Brookman argued that the council should have been presented with reasons for flying it over the library and should have the authority to make a decision on the matter, the Daily Herald reported. Regardless, Brookman said he would have been in favor of the library's decision.
If there was no such policy, the amount of groups wanting their flag displayed over a city building could be endless, Brookman told the publication.
The mayor of Des Plaines Matthew Bogusz said the new policy is a "solution in search of a problem." Brookman was criticized by colleagues who accused him of "micromanaging," according to the Daily Herald.
Dr. Gregory Sarlo President of the Board of Trustees for the library said the council should be spending its time on more important issues in the city.
"We had 49 people that were slaughtered. I think that's more the issue, regardless of who or what the community is. It was a no-brainer," Sarlo said of flying the flag. "(The new policy) will take the burden off the mayor to make a decision like that, but I think it's silly we even have to have discussions like this when so many people have been murdered."
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There have been both positive and negative comments about the rainbow flag from both residents and commuter passing by, according to the report.
