The rainbow flag is flying at Richmond City Hall for the first time ever, this being 2013 and Pride month and gay marriage being front and center at the Supreme Court and all. And despite being in spitting distance of Berkeley and right across the Bay from us, Richmond is not the bastion of PC, no-questions-asked liberalism that one might expect. The flag-raising caused some backlash from a few city employees, one of whom said "Richmond is not 'The Castro'" and said it was an insult to the city's "faith-based community."

Another employee, Linda Cisneros, replied to an internal email chain about the flag noting, "I have never seen a flag displayed for Native American Heritage Month or Hispanic American Heritage Month or Irish American Heritage Month. Didn't they struggle too?"

ABC 7 found at least one slightly scruffy individual who likes to read on a bench by City Hall who said he had no problem with the flag.

The decision to fly the flag was made by Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, at the request of out gay Councilwoman Jovanka Beckles, and McLaughlin says the flag will stay up for the rest of the month.

In related news, the town of Calistoga in Napa County just pulled down a rainbow flag that it had been flying at its City Hall for the first time after only three days. The reason, according to the city manager, was that they didn't want to have to deal with the "legal" implications of allowing one group to fly their flag and not allowing another.

[CC Times]
[ABC 7]
[Press-Democrat]