McHenry County can fly Pride, vets and other flags at government sites, if two-thirds of board agrees

Flying flags such as those for gay Pride or veteran groups from McHenry County government flag poles will require support of at least two-thirds of the County Board, though some members insist the supermajority requirement is too high.

The board approved a new flag policy at its meeting last Tuesday. It will create a process for allowing the county to display non-governmental flags on flagpoles at county properties. The new policy ends at least part of a debate that has endured for nearly two years.

The final vote was 11-6, which, similar to others on the night, was almost entirely along party lines, with all five Democrats and Republican John Reinert of Crystal Lake voting against it.

The policy will allow the United States flag, the Illinois state flag and the McHenry County flag — along with the POW/MIA flag — to fly at county buildings, according to the policy.

All other flags will need to go up for an individual vote, and if approved, will count as speech by the county. The flag poles will not be used for personal speech.

Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, some members, mainly from the Democratic block of the County Board, said they wanted a flag vote to be a simple majority, and felt that requiring two-thirds was done to prevent certain flags from flying. Those sentiments carried into Tuesday as well.

“I think we’re using a supermajority because the board is wanting to prevent the Pride flag from being flown,” County Board member Gloria Van Hof, D-Crystal Lake, said, echoing similar comments she gave on Thursday. “I believe that a simple majority would be sufficient.”

On the flip side, some members, such as Reinert, said they didn’t feel like there should be any non-governmental flags flying, and said requiring two-thirds was a compromise.

“I personally struggle with personal interest flags on our government flag poles of any kind,” Reinert said. “If we are going to pass it, I would like to see a supermajority. … Make sure the majority of us feel that strongly about it.”

County Board member Theresa Meshes, D-Fox River Grove, attempted to change the policy to a simple majority, but the amendment failed.

“I did support the flag flying display policy until we changed it to a two-thirds majority,” Meshes said. “It’s not going to change the amount of discussion we have on proposed flags.”

Terri Greeno, R-Crystal Lake, said making it just a simple majority doesn’t show it represents the full support of the county or County Board. She clarified any flags put up count as government speech.

“It’s a difference of two votes, it’s not insurmountable,” she said. “We need a sense of unanimity. … To act like this is about any specific group or flag trivializes this process.”

In 2021, the County Board considered a flag policy that was tabled indefinitely, but would have allowed for several government flags and veteran flags to be flown at county government buildings. It did not include the pride flag among that list.

Both in 2021 and in 2022, some members felt the Board was attempting to block the gay Pride flag from flying. This came to a head last year when the Board passed a resolution recognizing June as Gay Pride Month, but opted against flying the gay Pride rainbow flag for the first time in two years.

The topic was complicated by a Supreme Court case, Shurtleff v. Boston, where an organization attempted to fly a Christian flag on one of the city’s flag poles, but was turned down due to concerns about the Constitution prohibiting the establishment of a religion.

The court unanimously voted in favor of Harold Shurtleff, saying it violated his First Amendment right, and was not considered speech by the government.

The result of the court case caused some concern among county officials, who wanted to wait to approve any flags until it was known how the case could affect McHenry County.