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The spa town of Matlock in the Peak District is known for the joyful flags adorning its historical high street. The St George’s Cross, the union flag, the Derbyshire county flag and the Pride flag flutter brightly above the town’s many independent businesses.
That was until a row erupted that has divided the town, after the mysterious disappearance of a Pride flag turned out to be the work of the very council that had installed it.
Townspeople and the local MP are calling for its return after a LGBTQ+ standard was removed in a “sly little way” following complaints from some Christians.
Kate Bond, who lives in the Derbyshire town, said she had donated £150 to the council to refresh the flags as they had become tatty over time. “They were such a mess because they were really old and dirty,” she said.
Only the St George’s Cross and the union flag had previously been flown, so when the new flags went up on the high street last week she was delighted to see the addition of the Derbyshire flag and the Pride flag, following a decision by the 11 members of Matlock town council.
“I thought it was amazing to be honest. I thought, ‘Oh that’s brilliant. How nice.’ I was just thinking it looked really good,” she said.
When a Pride flag disappeared, she thought it might be the work of lone homophobes – which has happened in various towns and cities in the UK – and was shocked to discover the council had done it, appearing to bow to pressure from a homophobic minority.
“It’s crazy. You just can’t believe it. More than anything, what I’m bothered about is the fact that it’s happened without anybody knowing about it. This sly little way it’s been done, it’s wrong somehow. If it’s your idea to put them up, stand by it,” she said.
It is not clear how many people complained but one was Cornerstone Bookshop, run by a Christian charity, which said it was “grateful for the speedy removal” of the Pride flag.
Judy Crook, who runs the bookshop, told the Guardian that, though as “a point of basic Christian belief, we welcome everybody”, they did not want to promote homosexuality and “we’re not happy with the gay rights situation”.
“We have to respect other people’s views. But we didn’t want the flag flying outside our shop.”
In a statement, the bookshop added: “Fortunately, we are blessed in this country with freedom of conscience and freedom of religion legislation, enshrined in the Equality Act of 2010 which allows religion or belief as a protected characteristic. We are therefore very grateful for the speedy removal of this flag when we raised our concern to the council.”
Bond, who is gay, responded: “You can’t do anything about homophobes. They’re going to be in the world. So my complaint really isn’t with [Crook], it’s the fact that the council have agreed to it. There’s obviously some people in Matlock, and perhaps just generally, that have more power than others.”
The council clerk, Simon Hosmer, said: “We removed the flag due to a strong belief someone would put themselves in danger by removing it themselves. As a town council we can ill afford damage to property let alone damage to a person that we may be liable for.
“A lot of the local community are rightly upset that this has happened. It may look to people that we have bowed under the pressure of a single complaint. That is simply not the case.”
He said more Pride flags had been ordered, despite the wider Derbyshire county council, now led by Reform UK, “wanting only union flags on public buildings”.
Reform, which won a majority in the May local election, has banned the LGBTQ flag from the town hall in Matlock, along with the Ukrainian flag. The Guardian understands the council has since done a U-turn on the Ukrainian flag ban.
The new administration has also introduced Christian prayer at the start of its meetings, with a Reform councillor, the group whip Dan Price, saying the UK was a “Christian country”.
