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<\/span>\u00a9 Kassi Jackson\/Kassi Jackson\/Hartford Courant\/TNS<\/span>\u00a0An anti-Biden flag flies below an American flag outside of a Terryville home Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nAbout a half mile apart in the town\u2019s Terryville section, both banners hang below American flags and state in bold, white letters on blue background, \u201cF—- BIDEN,\u201d and below that, in smaller type, \u201cAnd … you for voting for him!\u201d<\/p>\n
Plymouth police Capt. Edward Benecchi said residents have complained, saying neighborhood kids and students passing on school buses should not have to see such profanity.<\/p>\n
But Benecchi said police consulted with the state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office in New Britain and found \u201cwe are unable to intercede as it would violate (the residents\u2019) First Amendment right to free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Stoto, who raised one of the anti-Biden flags, said no one has complained to him directly, but he has heard that at least one neighbor was upset. He bought the flag, Stoto said, because, \u201cI hate Biden. I think he\u2019s an ignorant fool.\u201d As for children in the neighborhood, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s not anything they haven\u2019t seen or heard before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the best $9 I ever spent on Amazon,\u201d Stoto said, \u201cbecause it\u2019s (ticking) people off and opening their eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Widely available, the anti-Biden flags have raised neighbors\u2019 ire around the nation, news reports show. In New Hyde Park on Long Island, an elementary school principal urged parents to complain about the profane banner posted on a front yard fence.<\/p>\n
In Bay City, Michigan, Sheriff Troy Cunningham told a reporter that he also had consulted with a prosecutor and learned the flag was a Constitutionally protected statement.<\/p>\n
And in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, a homeowner who would only give her first name as Kimberly, told a reporter she had been getting harassing emails \u201cthat I am teaching our children words and that I am traumatizing children with freedom of speech, basically.\u201d She said she took the flag down because she feared for her children\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n
One of the Terryville residents flying the banner, who would not give his name, said he raised it after former President Donald Trump lost on Nov. 3 because, he said, there was \u201cobvious fraud\u201d in the election. The man said one passerby complained, but others have given him the thumbs up. He said another reason for hoisting the anti-Biden flag: \u201cI think it\u2019s funny.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever crass,\u201d Dan Barrett, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, said, \u201ca property owner\u2019s ability to criticize the president is protected by the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the past two presidential elections, while Connecticut as a whole was mostly blue and Democratic, Plymouth voters chose Trump by wide margins over Biden (60.4%) and Hillary Clinton in 2016 (64.8%).<\/p>\n
Local police, Benecchi said, will protect the flag flyers\u2019 rights as they would the rights of any citizen. During protests against police brutality on the town green last year, some protesters held signs bearing the same swear word as the anti-Biden flags, but with police as the target, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stood with them to uphold their First Amendment rights and protect them from counter protesters,\u201d Benecchi said.<\/p>\n
___ Profane anti-Biden flag causing controversy in Connecticut, around the nation Jesse Leavenworth, Hartford Courant \u00a9 Kassi Jackson\/Kassi Jackson\/Hartford Courant\/TNS\u00a0An anti-Biden flag flies below an American flag outside of a Terryville home Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. About a half mile apart … Continue reading
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