Pride Flag Banned in Hamtramck, MI
Our world is nothing if not interesting. Hamtramck, MI made news in June 2023 for its stance against the Pride flag in June 2023. It is currently the only US city with an all-Muslim governing body and mayor. Originally named for the Canadian-born Colonel Jean Francois Hamtramck (1756-1803), the city is also the only Muslim-majority town in the United States. Recently, the city became the center of a somewhat uncomfortable discussion about legal rights.
This week the city government unanimously passed a resolution banning the display of LGBTQ+ Pride flags on public property. The resolution states, “The City of Hamtramck is one of the most diverse cities in the United States, in which we should proudly promote and embrace its diversity. The City must serve and treat its residents equally, with no discrimination, or special treatment to any group of people.” It also states, “The government of the City of Hamtramck does not allow any religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group flags to be flown on the City’s public properties, and that only, the American flag, and the nations’ flags that represent the international character of our City shall be flown.”
A local Muslim leader from nearby Dearborn, MI stated, “Pride month, don’t put it down our throats. You can be gay by yourself … Do not put [the Pride flag] on city property.”
There was a related line of reasoning behind the recent decision by the NHL to stop the practice of players wearing pride jerseys, which also cited religious exceptions voiced by a few players and concerns by Russian players over personal security. Russia is heavily influenced by the Orthodox Church and has typically taken a hard stand against homosexuality.
While the resolution is supposedly aimed at all special groups—which is somewhat loosely defined as any group that does not explicitly represent the city’s multicultural population, it does lead us to wonder whether the resolution was influenced by Islam’s view of homosexuality. Islam associates the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah with lewdness and wickedness, which are widely understood to include homosexuality. One passage in the Qur’an makes this clear:
Surah 7:80-84 – And [remember] when Lot scolded [the men of] his people, [saying,] “Do you commit a shameful deed that no man has ever done before? You lust after men instead of women! You are certainly transgressors.” But his people’s only response was to say, “Expel them from your land! They are a people who wish to remain chaste!” So We saved him and his family except his wife, who was one of the doomed.
In his tafsir (exegesis or interpretation) of Surah 7:84, the renowned Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir notes, “Whoever is found doing the act of the people of Lut [Lot], then kill them; the doer and the one it is done to.” Sadly, this has led to the horrific practice of executing homosexuals by throwing them off the tops of buildings.
The interesting part of this development is that the American political left typically serves as an advocate for both the LGBTQ+ and Muslim communities, typically viewing them as groups who suffer unfair discrimination and each of whom deserve special protection. What happens when those two groups find themselves at odds with one another spells a great deal of frustration for those who try to support both. We can see one example in former mayor Karen Majewski, who is quoted as saying, “We supported you when you were threatened, and now our rights are threatened, and you’re the one doing the threatening.” The mayor should not be surprised, given Islam’s historical position against homosexuality.
Our world is becoming an increasingly-convoluted moral landscape where opinions, feelings, and emotions carry more weight than reason. When we see worldviews that tend to drift far afield from the truth, it should come as no surprise that they should generate their own internal conflict—which is what we’re seeing in Hamtramck right now. Regardless of political orientation, however, it is vital for Christians to pray and work for peace, harmony, and truth.
