Calif. Fair Removes Rainbow Flags

Organizers of the Antelope Valley Fair in Lancaster, Calif., north of Los Angeles, have taken down rainbow flags after receiving a complaint about the flags’ association with the LGBT rights movement, NBC’s Los Angeles affiliate reported Friday.

The flags were among several colorful ones flying at the fair, and organizers were reportedly unaware of the gay connection. General manager Dan Jacobs said he received a call “from a very irate individual that explained to me what we had up,” Jacobs told the station.

Fair organizers say they were not making a political statement by either flying the flags or taking them down, but officials of the the Lancaster Outreach Center, a social service agency, said taking them down sends a negative message.

“This isn’t the first time the Antelope Valley has faced allegations of bigotry,” the TV station reported. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating allegations of civil rights violations by police in Lancaster and neighboring Palmdale.

See the report on the flag incident here.