After coming under fire, Municipality of Chester raises Pride flag

With communities across Nova Scotia flying the Pride flag this month, the Municipality of the District of Chester came under scrutiny for refusing to do so because of a 2007 policy.

The policy allowed only the flags ofmunicipal, provincial, federal and national foreign governments or the United Nations to be flown from municipal poles.

That changed Thursday when the Municipality of the District of Chester council apologized to the LGBT community and voted unanimouslyto hoist the Pride flag.

The council also approved a motion to develop a revised flag flying policy, which will be given a high priority.

Shelley McCorriston, chair of Lunenburg County Pride, who has been working for a year to change the policy, said she's very happy with the decision but not surprised because of the backlash that council received.

"By flying the flagthis July, the message they are sending is that they also do not tolerate hate," she said.

Describing the municipality's initial reluctance to fly the flag as "pushing the envelope,"she said it led to a lot of "hidden hate" from within the community.

Warden Allen Webber also used today's council meeting to apologize for using the term "lifestyle choices" during an interview on CBC's Information Morning on Wednesday.

He saidthe gaffe was based on his lack of understanding and was not intended to offend.

The warden said he hopes to sit down with McCorriston to discuss the challenges faced by the LGBT community.

McCorriston said she is happy to sit down with anyone in Lunenburg County to discuss issues.

She was there at 1 p.m. AT Thursday when the flag was raised and is looking forward to a permanent community flagpole being installed in the municipality.