Private citizens will no longer be allowed to decorate city trees, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean proclaimed, citing safety concerns after the city authorized a local man to wrap Pride ribbons around the verdant trunks of Harrison Boulevard.
This all started when Jordan Hall, of Boise, was hoping to preserve Harrison Boulevard’s annual Pride flag tradition after a state law banned Pride flags on government property. The law includes an exception for temporary parades and assemblies, which Hall sought to use. He asked the city to let him hang Pride flags temporarily on city-owned flagpoles and to wrap rainbow ribbons around the trees.
Boise rejected Hall’s temporary flag request, but Parks and Recreation Director Sara Arkle gave Hall the green light on ribbons. During June, at least one video emerged on social media of the decor, each tree with its own color in the order of the stripes of the Progress Pride flag…