Flag attacked as anti-gay taken down at legislature, city hall in St. John’s

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – The Newfoundland reverend who persuaded officials to fly a Christian flag that drew outrage as a perceived anti-gay symbol says he’s sad to see it come down from government buildings.

“It has been a real storm of controversy,” Rev. Howard Hynes of St. Stephen the Martyr Anglican Church said Wednesday as the flag was removed from the provincial legislature and St. John’s City Hall.

“I didn’t expect it to be so prolific, but there it is,” he said in an interview.

He was among other church leaders who hoped the flag would be flown during the holy week of Easter to recognize Christians persecuted for their faith around the world, Hynes said.

St. Stephen affiliates itself with the Anglican Network in Canada, a conservative splinter group of the Canadian Anglican church that has opposed the blessing of same-sex unions.

“We uphold marriage between a man and a woman,” he said of his specific congregation.

“I have to be honest with you, that is what we uphold. But I would be loath to say that we’re anti-gay or that we’re anti-anything.”

The flag featuring a red cross on a blue and white background was taken down at the legislature — but not because of the uproar, Premier Dwight Ball maintained.

He has spent much of the week deflecting angry barbs from both those opposed to the flag and those against its removal.

A statement from his office said it came down early Wednesday from a courtesy pole at Confederation Building as other flags were lowered to half-mast to honour Belgium. Suicide bomber attacks Tuesday on the Brussels airport and subway system killed at least 34 people and wounded more than 200.

When flags are lowered for such tributes, any ensigns being flown on provincial buildings as a courtesy are removed, said the premier’s office.

New Democrat member Gerry Rogers, who is openly gay, said Ball chose not to take a firm stance on a serious issue.

“That flag symbolizes discrimination. It symbolizes divisiveness rather than unity. And I don’t think our governments on any level should be supporting that.”

For many people, the flag is linked to anti-gay religious teachings, Rogers said. It also recently featured, for example, in the high-profile fight against same-sex unions by a rural Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licences to gay couples.

Still, Ball said various municipalities raised the red cross this week and that his government respects all groups — regardless of religious or sexual identities. He also said his Liberal government will work with all parties to clarify flag policy.

St. John’s Mayor Dennis O’Keefe announced Wednesday that city council had voted to take down what he called the “St. Stephen the Martyr” flag. It had flown outside city hall since Monday.

“City staff are currently developing a policy to deal with protocol issues, including flag raising,” O’Keefe said in a statement.

Hynes said his church welcomes people of all walks of life. Its website, however, offers links to so-called conversion therapy for those “who wish to address their feelings of unwanted homosexual attractions.”

A link to a paper called “SEX: Should We Change the Rules?” quotes biblical passages that condemn gay relations.

It concludes: “Playing fast and loose with sexuality, whether in premarital relationships, extra-marital adulteries or homosexual liaisons, despises the honour with which God himself has invested it and risks our relationship with Christ.”

Asked if he’s aware of any gay or lesbian couples among his 150 local families and individual members, Hynes said: “None that I’m aware of, that are professing this particular lifestyle. What people are, I don’t know.”

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