Norfolk councillor says authority hit with "nasty comments" over Pride flag
Natasha Harpley said some of the comments were described as "depraved"
A Norfolk councillor has described the response to her office flying the Progress Pride flag as “depraved”.
Natasha Harpley, deputy leader of Broadland Council, said the authority had been inundated with “nasty comments” after posting on social media to announce its week of celebrations.
These included Ms Harpley raising the flag at the Horizon Centre, home to Broadland and South Norfolk councils, last Monday, in an effort to make the “communities it represents” feel “included and valued”.
The flag is a variation of the original rainbow Pride flag, to include black, brown, pink, pale blue and white stripes.
These are to represent people of colour in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as transgender people and those living with HIV/AIDS.
These colours form an arrow to indicate progress.
Ms Harpley, a Labour councillor, said she was “really disappointed” to see a “huge amount” of negative responses to the gesture by the council.
Thousands of people gathered in Norwich city centre this weekend for the annual Pride celebrations.
There had been some controversy about the celebrations in the lead up after it was revealed that Norfolk Constabulary would be banning officers in uniform from joining in with the celebrations, after it was deemed to breach impartiality rules.
Comments underneath a post by Broadland Council on Facebook demanded to know when “straight celebrations” would be and said it should focus on “normal heterosexual relationships”.
Speaking at a recent meeting, Ms Harpley said: “I have been really disappointed to see a huge amount of very negative comments across all forms of social media platforms after we raised the Pride flag.
“There is always a little bit of this as the Pride flag seems to trigger people for some reason. I don’t know why rainbows are so offensive to some people, but there you go.
“But on this occasion, it’s not just the volume of nasty comments, it’s the levels of depravity, which I know other councillors have also seen. It was quite disgusting.
“We, as a council, absolutely stand in solidarity with members of the LGBTQ+ community and we do not tolerate hate speech of any kind.”