a california high school's pride flag has flown every day since 2019. a 3-2 board vote says it now needs permission to come out in june.

via the Sonoma Index-Tribune and the Sonoma Sun

Seven years, every school day, one flag. Then a Thursday night board meeting.

The Sonoma Valley Unified board voted 3-2 on Oct. 8 for a flag policy that ends the daily Pride flag at Sonoma Valley High School, both local papers report. Board President David Bell and trustees Catarina Landry and Jason Lehman voted for it; Anne Ching and Gerardo Guzman voted against. The flag had flown since 2019, per the Index-Tribune, which says symbolic flags can now fly only in specific awareness months, and only with the board's approval. The Sun reports Bell said the policy takes effect Monday.

Bell's case, per the Index-Tribune: "What was called inclusion became, in practice, exclusion of all but one group." The Sun has him citing "bias and a lack of viewpoint neutrality." Bell is the same board president who had the flag taken down in January, then saw it go back up after protests, the Index-Tribune reports. A student-run alternative, letting students propose flags and the student body decide, failed 3-2.

Student representative Austin Cheeseman said the policy "sends out a message to this community that is against student power." Lisa Storment of Wake UP Sonoma: "The students are devastated." The teachers' union co-presidents are hoping the new board seated in December revisits it, per the Index-Tribune.

The flag may come back in June, if the board votes to let it. Pride, now by appointment.