QUESTION: Has Burlington’s mayor Ian Baltutis bedecked his front porch with flags for gay pride and the “Black Lives Matter” movement because of the support that these groups have lent to the open letter he co-authored to relocate the county’s Confederate monument?
ANSWER: A rainbow flag for gay rights and another that declares “Black Lives Matter” have, indeed, recently flown from the home of Burlington’s mayor. But Baltutis insists that anyone who thinks these banners were sops to supporters of his open letter probably don’t drive past his house very often.
“June is ‘Pride Month,’” Baltutis said of the rainbow flag during an interview, “and the flag was up for the vast majority of June.”
Baltutis said that the “Black Lives” banner has also had a much longer run than the open letter, which he and a coalition of other prominent area residents had drafted over the weekend.
Baltutis added that, with Pride Month now over, he’ll soon swap out the rainbow flag for the Stars and Stripes so that they can be seen proudly waving from his porch on the Fourth of July.
