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.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

August 20 2011 7:55 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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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.