Obersticht Unter: The district council has conceded the veto of the district committee.
Twice a year the rainbow flag is now hoisted at the Freising district office.
Freising - So now: The Freising District Assembly has approved the motion of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, from now on every year on May 17th, the International Day against Homophobia, Biophobia and Transophobia, and on Christopher Street Day in Munich in front of the District Office to hoist the rainbow flag.
At its meeting at the end of July, the district committee had rejected the request by a majority.
In the district assembly, the mood and the majority situation were different: The motion was approved with 33:27 votes.
Basically, as was already explained in the district committee, the district office, as a state authority, is prohibited from taking a (party) political position with a view to political neutrality.
However, the administration had considered it legally permissible to raise the rainbow flag together with the district flag as a symbol for the diversity of lifestyles and as an expression of tolerance and acceptance of alternative lifestyles.
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
In addition, this symbolism cannot be assigned to any specific political party, nor is it directed against individual political parties and therefore does not contradict the principle of neutrality.
Nevertheless, the majority of the district councils in the district committee were against it - among other things because they feared that other similar proposals could come, which would then also have to be granted.
FSM District Council: The flag is an expression of solidarity with minorities
CSU district councilor Johann Stegmair also presented these arguments on Wednesday in the district council, when the entire committee dealt with the application and the recommendation decision of the district committee.
When Leon Eckert (Greens) pointed out that the European Football Championship should be remembered, when the excitement was high about the rainbow-colored lighting of the Allianz Arena, which was prohibited by UEFA, Stegmair acknowledged: “It makes a difference whether one Football stadium or a state authority is illuminated. "
Samuel Fosso (FSM), on the other hand, supported the Greens' motion, after all, such a flag is an expression of solidarity with minorities.
Melanie Hilz spoke out against the use of rainbow flags on behalf of the AfD parliamentary group: If you hoist a flag for all minorities in Germany every day, “the days in the year are not enough”.
But the vote brought a different result than in the district committee.
District Administrator Helmut Petz commented on the 33:27 vote: "So that means: We'll raise the flag."