Two officials on the Hamtramck Human Relations Commission have been removed after the city council said they violated a city ordinance banning the display of LGBT Pride flags on city property.  

The removal came after the all-Muslim city council voted last month to ban the display of LGBT Pride flags on all city properties. In a unanimous vote this week, Russ Gordon and Cathy Stackpoole were kicked off of the human relations commission after the council said the pair were responsible for flying a Pride flag on government property. 

“This Council believes in fairness, neutrality towards our residents, and the rule of law, amongst other things for this community. We passed a resolution recently to do just that, and two of our sworn commissioners outright defied it, and did what they wanted,” Council member Khalil Refai told Fox News in a statement. 

Refai added that the council considered the flying of the LGBT flag a violation of the city’s trust. 

 “We were elected by the people of the community to make these decisions, and they not only violated the resolution but the trust of the whole community by doing this. For this reason, Council felt the appropriate response was to remove them from their public positions of trust,” he said. 

The human relations commission is supposed to encourage “tolerance,” “multiculturalism,” and “constructive communication.” 

The city of about 28,000 near Detroit has a history of conflicts over LGBT ideology. As far back as 2008, conservative Christians in the community joined with the local Muslim community to oppose a city ordinance that would include the LGBT community as a protected group.

The resolution to ban ideological flags from the Michigan city’s property was introduced in June by Councilman Mohammed Hassan.

“The City of Hamtramck does not allow any religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group flags to be flown on the City’s public properties, and that only, the American flag, the flag of the State of Michigan, the Hamtramck Flag, the Prisoner of War flag on City property,” the resolution said. 

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The issue of the “Pride” flag has divided communities across the country, especially in some school districts where teachers have been found to be promoting gender ideology and encouraging students to “transition.”

A county board of education in Maryland narrowly rejected a proposal this week that would have banned the display of all non-governmental flags, which would include Pride and Black Lives Matter (BLM) flags.

On Wednesday, the Anne Arundel County Board of Education voted 4-3 to reject a policy banning the display of all non-governmental flags on school property. 

House Republicans have moved to cut $1 billion in funding for the FBI and protect federal whistleblowers as lawmakers continue to question the bureau over its treatment of conservatives. 

The bill introducing the cuts was passed by Republicans on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies and was opposed by Democrats on the committee. If the bill, which could face an uphill battle in the Senate and from the White House, becomes law it would cut FBI funding by about 9%. 

The proposed bill also prevents funds from being used for the FBI’s office of diversity and inclusion, as well as other agency diversity offices that fall under the scope of the appropriations bill, which covers a variety of federal agencies including the Commerce Department and the Department of Justice. 

The DOJ would also get its funding cut by $2 billion and the Commerce Department would lose $1.4 in discretionary spending. 

“The bill holds the Department of Justice accountable and improves our immigration court system. It supports state and local law enforcement and provides critical resources to combat illegal drugs flooding our country,” Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) said. 

Lawmakers also took steps to shield whistleblowers from retaliation, including in the bill a provision to withhold salaries from federal employees who take action against whistleblowers and violate an employee’s First Amendment rights. 

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The whistleblower provision comes after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked the DOJ appropriations bill to contain language “prohibiting retaliation against FBI whistleblowers,” including prohibiting taxpayer dollars from going toward the salary of any official found to have retaliated against a whistleblower.

In order to protect free speech online, Jordan said the judiciary panel as well as his “Weaponization of the Federal Government” subcommittee want appropriations bills that explicitly block taxpayer funds from being used for censorship and to classify speech as “so-called ‘mis-, dis-, or mal-information.’

House Republicans have heard testimony from FBI and IRS whistleblowers this year, with IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley saying he was retaliated against because he raised concerns about the DOJ. 

“The actions taken by my leadership right now could be nothing but retaliation,” Shapley told Just the News earlier this month. “They know what prohibited personnel practices are, and they know how to how to try to engage in retaliatory activities that somehow you obfuscate that piece, whether it’s a prohibited personnel practice.”