Fresno mayor’s flip-flop over Pride flag issue proves he listens — and that’s a good sign
It took less than six months for Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer to flip-flop on a hot button issue.
Good for Dyer. Because strong, engaged leaders should always be willing to listen and change their minds.
No doubt some on Dyer’s side of the political aisle, or folks he shares an aisle with at Sunday services, won’t see it that way. They’ll see his abrupt stance reversal on flying the Pride flag outside Fresno City Hall as an ideological betrayal, a capitulation to the liberal agenda.
Can’t wait to see what the Fresno County GOP cooks up. Just last month, local party leaders termed policies that promote LGBTQ+ inclusiveness “a major setback for women’s rights.”
Still scratching my head over that one.
Likewise, Dyer won’t earn many plaudits from his usual bevy of detractors. The only reason the mayor arrived at a place where he could change mind, they’ll point out, is because the community dragged him there.
Which is a fair point. Ideally, Dyer would’ve taken the time to hear from Fresno’s LGBTQ crowd and consult with liberal faith leaders before calling a press conference to declare the rainbow colors would be relegated to newly created “Unity Park” in Eaton Plaza.
The following day, after attending a Pride flag-raising ceremony at Fresno City College, Dyer made a U-turn.
“I saw so many in the LGBTQ community, as well as family members, who were standing with them crying, almost as if they had been freed,” Dyer said. “And I felt that same emotion inside of me that generated a lot of tears. It’s a moment in time I think I’ll never forget.”
Tears welled up in Dyer’s eyes as he spoke. His voice filled with emotion. The man was obviously moved by what he saw and experienced. This was no act.
Although it feels like Dyer has been mayor for a while — elected in March 2020, sworn in nine months later in January — he’s still getting accustomed to elected office. Making a decision before hearing all the viewpoints, then having a sudden change of heart, is a sign of inexperience.
But rather than criticize Dyer for playing hopscotch, give him a little credit. Dyer knows how it looks for him to say one thing one day, then backtrack the next. Yet that didn’t prevent him from following his conscience. That’s a sign of good leadership.
Flip-flopping has long history in U.S. politics
Besides, Dyer is hardly the first elected official to flip-flop on a controversial topic.
As vice president in 1798, Thomas Jefferson took a strict, literal view of constitutional powers. For example, he was steadfastly against the concept of the federal government taking on public debt. But as president in 1803, Jefferson borrowed $15 million when Napoleon dangled a land deal that nearly doubled the size of the United States.
And what about Abraham Lincoln? While campaigning for president in 1860, Lincoln promised the Southern states there would be no interference from Washington, D.C., over slavery. He repeated that pledge during his inaugural address, affirming “the right of each state to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively.”
Sure thing, Abe. Even those who slept through American history know what happened next.
In case you’re wondering, the answer is “no.” I’m not comparing Dyer to Jefferson and Lincoln. Merely pointing out that Fresno’s mayor is following a long, proud tradition.
Hours following Dyer’s flip-flop, a few wild rumors began to circulate. One of them, lent credence by a local news website that evidently lifts material word for word from National Republican Congressional Committee dossiers, purports Dyer caved to California Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, a lesbian who threatened to withhold funding for a $25 million firefighting training center to be built in Fresno unless the Pride flag hung from a City Hall flagpole.
New LGBTQ perspective gained by listening
A source with direct knowledge of the situation called the Atkins rumor “absolute nonsense” — except they used a more colorful descriptor than nonsense.
“If you knew Dyer you would know that he would not compromise his convictions for a fire training center or any other threat,” the source said.
No matter how messy the politics, I don’t think Dyer compromised anything. I believe the mayor gained a new perspective on the experiences of LGBTQ people in Fresno and the central San Joaquin Valley by listening to how they’ve been bullied, marginalized and ostracized.
Any human being with a shred of empathy would’ve been swayed by what they heard.
Given that it only took 24 hours for Dyer to change his mind, I can’t help but wonder if those who are resistant to the LGBTQ cause, if not outright opposed, feel the way they do because they’ve never taken the time to listen. Never exposed themselves to an alternative viewpoint. Never taken a sniff outside their air-tight ideological bubbles.
I’d invite each and every one of those people to Fresno City Hall on Friday, when the rainbow flag will be raised for the first time. Who knows, they might come away as moved, and changed, as the mayor.
