Hamtramck Michigan’s all-Muslim  City Council earlier in the year made major headlines when they decided to ban all public buildings in the city to fly LGBTQ flags.

Now the all-Muslim City Council has voted to remove two commissioners for defying the new law.

The city council voted unanimously to remove both Cathy Stackpoole and Russ Gordon from the Hamtramck Human Rights Commission after they flew an LGBTQ flag over a public sidewalk.

The conclusion of the vote ruled Stackpoole and Gordon “defied the rule of law.”

Here’s what the Daily Mail reported:

Advertisement

A Michigan city with an all-Muslim council that made waves banning LGBTQ+ Pride flags on public buildings has removed two members of a city commission for breaking the new law.

Hamtramck, population 27,000, is an enclave surrounded by Detroit. More than 40 percent of residents were born in other countries, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and a significant share are of Yemeni or Bangladeshi descent.

On Tuesday, the council unanimously approved removing Russ Gordon and Cathy Stackpoole from the Hamtramck Human Rights Commission for flying the rainbow flag over a public sidewalk, with a member saying they ‘defied the rule of law.’

It became the first city in America to have a majority Muslim population in 2015 and in January 2022, became the first to have an all-Muslim city council and mayor in Amer Ghalib.

In mid-June, the council voted to ban LGBTQ+ flags from publicly owned flagpoles after a tense hourslong meeting that raised questions about discrimination, religion and the city’s reputation for welcoming newcomers.

 

Per the Post Millennial:

The all-Muslim city council of Hamtramck, Michigan has fired city staffers of the town’s Human Relations Commission after they flew a Pride flag on public property, in violation of a recently passed resolution banning the practice.

Russ Gordon and Catrina Stackpoole allegedly raised the flag on a city flag pole during a protest near Neibel Street on Sunday.

According to the Detroit News, Hamtramck city council voted unanimously to relieve the city staffers of their duties on Tuesday, with City Manager Max Garbarino confirming shortly after that the flying of the Pride flag was the reason behind the decision.

“This Council believes in fairness, neutrality towards our residents, and the rule of law, amongst other things for this community,” Council member Khalil Refai said in a statement. “We passed a resolution recently to do just that, and two of our sworn commissioners outright defied it, and did what they wanted.”

“We were elected by the people of the community to make these decisions,” Refai continued, “and they not only violated the resolution but the trust of the whole community by doing this. For this reason, Council felt the appropriate response was to remove them from their public positions of trust.”

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.


We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.