North Yarmouth votes to remove Pride flag display, form policy
Following a North Yarmouth Select Board discussion about the display of a Pride flag at the North Yarmouth Community Center — where it has hung since it was put up at the start of June for Pride month — the board voted to take down the rainbow flag and form a policy about flags on town property.
Many residents and some Select Board members said removing the flag sends an “unwelcoming” message.
“While it may not be your intention, the result will make people feel less welcome and less safe in this town,” said resident Stacey Cramp during public comment on Tuesday.
North Yarmouth started displaying a Pride flag at Wescustogo Hall in a large window of that faces the road each June since 2024, when the Select Board voted to put it up. North Yarmouth does not have other policies about displaying flags on municipal property.
At the beginning of July, Select Board Chair Paul Whitmarsh added the display of the Pride flag to the Select Board agenda. He said some residents reached out to him at the start of July, asking that since Pride month was over, the flag at the Community Center be taken down. He likened it to boxing up a Christmas tree after Dec. 25.
Whitmarsh said he brought this to the now-retired town manager, who, unable to take direction from a single Select Board member under town policy, suggested the board make a motion on whether to remove the display.
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During public comment on the motion to take down the flag on July 21, the majority of residents said removing it would negatively affect LGBTQ+ residents of the town, with many in favor of leaving it up permanently.
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“It’s a democracy question, and it’s an inclusivity question,” said resident Debra Spark. “Certainly taking it down suggests to me that you’re going to make certain people in my community feel uncomfortable, which makes me very unhappy.”
Several commentors supported either removing the flag after June or for not having any Pride flags on town property at all, with others saying it should not fly above the American flag or procedures should be in place for which flags go up when. Both the public and Select Board members noted that the majority of speakers were in support of the flag remaining up.
“You’re here to represent your community. It seems uncomfortable for me to have a couple of people email the Select Board and say, ‘Think you should act on that,’ and then you take it down. I don’t think that’s representative of the community,” said resident Keith Bubblo.
Select Board Member Molly Gilligan said hearing public comments about the importance of the flag’s continued display changed her mind. She originally thought that the flag should come down after Pride month, she said.
“The community center should be a place of belonging and this signifies belonging to so many members of our community,” said Gilligan. “I would agree with maintaining the Pride flag up based on what we heard tonight.”
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Select Board Member Andrea Berry, a supporter of the Pride flag being displayed by the town, said she also changed her mind toward leaving the flag up. She asked that discussion participants be honest about why they want to flag to come down.
“If your objection is really about what the Pride flag represents, then I think it’s important for us to have that discussion,” said Berry.
The Pride flag and other symbols of support for the LGBTQ+ community have been contentious among Select Board members.
At the Select Board meeting on July 2, Berry was about to re-read a statement that the board made last year recognizing that June is Pride month and affirming the town accepts all residents when Whitmarsh cut in.
“I’m sorry, I can’t participate in that. I have a religious belief that is different than that and I would object to that on those grounds alone,” said Whitmarsh.
Berry said she would personally like to read the statement again as a nonvoting item. The message was created last year after North Yarmouth and Cumberland were in the national spotlight after a transgender athlete at the shared school district became the target of conservative outrage across the country. Whitmarsh got up and left the meeting.
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“I hope we can have that discussion as a board on whether religion should or should not fall in the management of a town under the separation of church and state,” said Berry on July 21.
Whitmarsh also replaced Berry as Select Board chair on July 2.
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On Tuesday, the motion was changed from just removing the flag from Wescustogo Hall and Community Center to include that the Select Board would also develop a flag policy for municipal properties. Select Board Members Whitmarsh, Michael Sweatt and Dana Rogers voted in favor of the motion and it passed, with Berry and Gilligan opposed.
Other members of the Select Board said on Tuesday their reasoning for removing the flag was more logistical.
“I want to be clear that my position has nothing to do with my position on the (LGBTQ+) community,” said Sweatt at the June 21 meeting. “My fear is opening up to the next group that wants to do the next flag, the next flag, the next flag.”
While Rogers voted to remove the flag, he said he was interested in having a policy that included when the Pride display would be up.
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“You’ll know June 1, when I drive past the Wescustogo Hall, that flag is going to be up there,” said Dana, adding it would come down at the end of Pride month.
Berry put up a motion for the Pride flag to be displayed in June, saying she wanted to assure residents it would go up again. With the Select Board failing to agree over whether this made sense to do prior to creating the flag policies, the motion failed with Berry and Gilligan in favor and Whitmarsh, Sweatt and Rogers opposed.
“That is really why I see so many people here in the audience today. It’s about what the flag means,” said Berry at the meeting.
In an interview, Berry said she requested the Select Board take up creating a flag policy at its next meeting.
“The community center should be a neutral space,” said Whitmarsh on July 21. “I know someone said it’s not a political flag. The truth is it has taken on political meanings.”
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Tagged: LGBTQ, north Yarmouth select board, Pride Month
Sophie is a community reporter for Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth and Falmouth and previously reported for the Forecaster. Her memories of briefly living on Mount Desert Island as a child drew her. More by Sophie Burchell
