A June rainbow illuminating Chattanooga City Hall by night is drawing criticism and inspiring praise.
In late fall of 2024, Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly’s administration installed a new lighting system that officials have used to display colors to celebrate everything from basketball tournaments to 911 Response Call Week.
“We light up City Hall pretty consistently,” Eric Holl, a spokesperson for the mayor, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
But this month city leaders posted a message on social media acknowledging Chattanooga’s LGBTQ+ community, as they’ve done each June since Kelly was elected. The post included a photo of a rainbow-lit City Hall. The new leaders of the Hamilton County Republican Party were not happy about it.
“Mayor Kelly’s decision to light up City Hall for Pride Month may seem like a harmless gesture of inclusion, but he is aligning our nonpartisan city government with an agenda that has become increasingly political, aggressive and intolerant of different views,” said a statement issued this week by the chair of the Hamilton County Republican Party, Gail Greene. “Pride Month has become a vehicle for Democrats’ efforts to reshape institutions, sexualize childhood and shut down debate.”