A Christian legal group in the United Kingdom is threatening to sue a city council in London for allegedly promoting a secular ideological agenda by displaying more than 300 Progress Pride flags on an iconic street.
Christian Concern, which is based in London and often represents Christians alleging discrimination in the U.K. and elsewhere, issued a press release earlier this week criticizing Westminster City Council for its annual tradition of replacing the U.K.’s national Union Jack flags on Regent Street with Progress Pride flags.
The group claims the display, which is scheduled to go up on June 22 and remain until next month, is implicitly threatening to those who disagree with LGBT ideology.
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“The Pride Progress flag [proclaims] a secular religious ideology which seeks to group together categories of people based upon their sexual preferences and identity: in doing this, it creates division between those people who do not recognize themselves under the umbrella of its myriad causes and those that do,” the group said.
“Those who do not join under the Flag have been considered as ‘hateful,’ ‘discriminatory,’ ‘intolerant’ and ‘bigoted.'”
Graphic designer Daniel Quasar, who claims to be non-binary and uses “xe/xyr” pronouns, designed the Progress Pride flag in 2018. In addition to the rainbow associated with the traditional Pride flag, the Progress Pride flag features chevrons that symbolize people of color, transgenderism and those with HIV/AIDS.
The group noted that Westminster Council has embraced its reputation for being too “woke,” and that Westminster Council’s own chief executive, Stuart Love, has described them as the “Wokeminster Council.”
Andrea Williams, who serves as executive director at Christian Concern, explained in a statement why she believes the Progress Pride flag is pernicious.
“The majority of the public do not know the highly controversial and harmful symbolism presented by the Progress Pride Flag,” Andrea Williams, who serves as executive director at Christian Concern, said in a statement. “At the heart of the flag is the trans flag — pink for girls, blue for boys and white for the ‘transition’ phase.”
Williams noted that transgenderism for children is increasingly being repudiated in the U.K. and other countries.
“This ideology [has] been discredited by the Cass Review, the closure of the Tavistock, and most recently the Supreme Court ruling. When will the Crown Estate catch up with the rest of society?”
Five Supreme Court justices in the U.K. ruled in April that the legal definition of a woman in the 2010 Equality Act applies “to a biological woman and biological sex.” The Cass Review was a landmark health study that found “no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”
Amid an exponential rise in minors being referred to the Tavistock gender clinic in the U.K., the clinic ultimately shuttered after the Cass Review urged a different service model for treating gender dysphoria.
Williams urged the Westminster City Council to stop the display “so that everyone can feel welcome in Regent Street and the surrounding areas.”
“If the council chooses to proceed with the display, we will consider taking legal action,” she added.
A spokesperson for Westminster City Council remained unapologetic about the display and described it as an “established fixture,” according to the LGBT outlet Pink News.
“Pride flags are in keeping with a cosmopolitan city that welcomes millions of visitors every year,” the spokesperson said. “All public community celebrations have a fixed duration and are both proportionate and fitting.”
“Given similar pronouncements in previous years we await further information about the Christian Legal Centre’s legal challenge with interest,” the person added.
Last year, more than 31,000 people signed a petition launched by Christian Concern that protested the Regent Street display. The group also played a role in urging the Church of England to withdraw its guidance that endorsed puberty-blocking drugs for children.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
