My husband and I raised the Save Women’s Sports flag on the Citizen Flag Pole on Nashua City Hall Plaza on Saturday, October 10, 2020 with permission from the City of Nashua. It was supposed to stay up until Friday, October 16.
Former Nashua alderman Jan Schmidt and local activists took offense at the message “Save Women’s Sports, Woman = Adult Human Female” on our flag and Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess had it taken down early in the morning on Sunday, October 11. I appealed the decision to the City and my appeal was rejected.
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In his response to my appeal, Nashua City Attorney Steve Bolton cited the case of Shurtleff v City of Boston. In 2017, Hal Shurtleff of Camp Constitution was denied the right to fly a Christian flag on a flagpole in front of Boston City Hall to celebrate Constitution Day. Shurtleff sued the City of Boston and lost, appealed the ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and lost again. The Mayor and Bolton were sure the City of Nashua had a rock-solid case against our flag.
However, Shurtleff appealed the case to the US Supreme Court and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Oral arguments were heard two weeks ago on January 18 and it appears to have gone very badly for the City of Boston. Even the liberal judges were asking very pointed questions of Boston’s attorney. By the end of the hearing, the attorney was left stammering and unable to defend the City’s position.
If Shurtleff prevails in the case, it would prove without a doubt that the City of Nashua’s actions were unconstitutional when they took down my flag and Nashua could either put our Save Women’s Sports flag back or end the Citizen Flag Pole program. That would be their choice. But they couldn’t continue to pretend that they had a right to discriminate based on our viewpoint.
