Local authorities should be held to account if they fly the contentious Progress Pride flag without planning permission, a Christian candidate has said after successfully challenging a London council.
Maureen Martin, the Christian Peoples' Alliance candidate for Lewisham East, threatened to seek a High Court injunction if the council failed to remove the flag, which was flown from the roof of the town hall during an election.
The Progress Pride flag differs from the conventional Pride flag with its addition of black and brown stripes to represent marginalised LGBTQ+ people of colour, and pink, blue, and white stripes from the transgender flag.
Unlike the traditional rainbow Pride flag, the Progress Pride flag requires special permission to be flown outside a building because it is treated as advertising.
In a letter to the council via her lawyers, Miss Martin said: "You will appreciate that the area of transgender rights is a highly contentious political issue in the United Kingdom.
"You will also be aware that the Equality Act 2010 does not protect gender as a protected characteristic."
The council agreed to take down the flag "to avoid any concern".
Responding to the outcome, Miss Martin said: "This year, especially in June, we were seeing councils and businesses displaying the Progress Pride flag, unlawfully and often without permission or proper consultation.
"The transgender ideology behind this flag has been proven to be harmful to hundreds of vulnerable children.
"It is unacceptable that Lewisham Council and other councils across the country have and are making such an extreme public and ideological statement on such contested issues, even during elections.
"Greater awareness must be urgently raised about what these flags stand for, and public authorities flying them must be brought to account."
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported Miss Martin, said: "These flags shouldn't be dominating our town centres and neighbourhoods. They are intimidating and exclusionary towards Christians and others who don't believe in Pride."
