A group of Virginia residents is fighting against Fairfax County after the county proposed a zoning amendment that would limit how people may display the American flag.
“GFCA believes that the display of the United States flag should be exempt from this Ordinance, and we have attached a resolution in support of that position that was adopted by our board on February 16,” the Great Falls Citizens Association wrote in a letter to the county.
The zoning amendment was introduced to make flag displays more uniform, with the county currently not having any zoning regulations related to flags.
But the GFCA said the zoning ordinance is “too restrictive,” forcing residents to display the American flag in the same way that all other flags are displayed.
The proposed ordinance would regulate the height of flags and the distance between flags, depending on what kind of property the flags are on. It would also regulate how close flags can be to streets.
The proposed amendment “does not recognize differences between the Flag of the United States, or any other ‘single piece of cloth,’ as defined in the proposed Ordinance,” the GFCA said.
“The United States Flag, as the symbol of America, has been described in a history published by Drexel University Today, as a … ‘vibrant symbol of the American principles of democracy, justice, and freedom, and the everlasting memory of those who have sacrificed their lives defending these intrinsic principles of the United States of America,’” the group continued.
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The Fairfax County rules as they stand would run afoul of American flag etiquette, which typically dictates that the American flag be flown higher than all other flags when they are displayed together.
