The city of Boston has banned the Christian flag from its City Hall flagpoles while permitting more than 200 other types of flags to fly, according to a new federal lawsuit.
The suit by Liberty Counsel was filed on behalf of citizen Hal Shurtleff and his Christian civic organization, Camp Constitution. Shurtleff wanted to fly the flag during a one-hour event on Constitution Day in 2017 and 2018 to commemorate the contributions of the Christian community but was denied.
The city allows a variety of flags to fly on its flagpoles to commemorate civic and cultural organizations yet prohibits non-secular flags.
A federal court and an appeals court previously ruled against Shurtleff. The new lawsuit includes a new set of “key facts” that should “compel a result in Camp Constitution’s favor,” the suit says.
Among those new facts: At least 13 times between 2005 and 2019, the city allowed the Turkish flag — with its Islamic star and crescent – to be raised on city hall flag poles. The city also allowed the Chinese, Cuban and Vatican flags to fly on city hall flag poles. All total, according to the suit, 284 different types of flags have flown. Not mentioned in the new suit are transgender and LGBT pride flags, both of which have flown.
The suit said the city’s policy violates the Establishment Clause.”