Florida woman says HOA member told her to remove rainbow flag

[TexasTowelie]

BREVARD COUNTY, FLA. — A rainbow flag has created controversy in a Brevard County, Florida, neighborhood -- so much so that one HOA member compared it to the Confederate flag.

A renter in Rockledge's Ashwood Lakes subdivision said she was told to lower a gay pride flag after having flown it for two years.

"It's a symbol of acceptance, tolerance and equality," said Jenifer Raymond, a mother of three. "They're saying it's offensive. To me, that's like saying I'm offensive because I exist."

Raymond said her landlord received an email from a member of the neighborhood's architectural review committee, saying only American, state or military flags may be flown.

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/national/florida-woman-says-hoa-member-told-her-remove-rainbow-flag/LNPbK27DlxG0YUQqTm8JvO/

[HopeAgain]

1. HOAs only exist as outlets for control freaks

This kind of crap happens every day in Florida.

[Nitram]

5. Not just in Florida.

Some are worse than others. One we worked with here in Virginia would only allow rain barrels to collect rooftop runoff in back of the house because they were considered unsightly when viewed from the road. There was a case someone fought in Northern Virginia to defend his right to use a post box on the street that was not the same as everybody else's. And of course none of them allow you to hang out laundry to dry in the sun.

[RKP5637]

10. Way back, and probably it's been overturned, said you had to have cars not over 3 years

old. Another said you could not even change oil on your car even if in the garage with the door closed. Another said no more than two males could live in a house if unrelated. These are places owned, not rented.

[mercuryblues]

2. This HOA is screwed

There is no mention in the HOA about what flags you can or can not fly. Other homes fly flags that aren't USA flags and haven't been told to take them down.

This was the action of 1 guy on the HOA. Another member said they were unaware of this. That 1 member said it is as offensive as the confederate flag. Really?

I think some self-righteous Christian. Apparently his faith depends on not ever seeing anything he doesn't agree with. I hope her neighbors will join her in flying the flag on their homes.

[steve2470]

9. I didn't see your post when I did my post below.

The HOA is screwed and I think any decent court will overturn this.

[Guilded Lilly]

3. The intolerance level of ugliness has reached such a high level in this country...

Now that the worst of humanity has been enabled by ignoramus dolts like the Cretin that it is very hard to be a proud Americans sometimes.

Condo HOAs can be hideously goose stepping to begin with and are often created to destroy individual expression. Guidelines in a condo community are necessary, but the accompanying attitudes can be disgustingly closed minded and belligerent.

For four years I lived in an otherwise delightful condo community that unfortunately had half of the governing board filled with tight assed old fart white men whose only goal in life was do be empowered, control freak assholes. They had nothing better to do than patrol the area with their retractable metal measuring tapes.

They once told a house flying an American flag that their pole was a foot too high and had to be removed. No lie. They measured it.

The owners of the condo were kind hearted, friendly, caring, tremendous people. They appealed to the board. Nope. Nada. The Stepford Wives’ husbands nixed it and said they would have it taken down if it wasn’t corrected/replaced in 90 Days.

So the couple put their condo up for sale and literally moved two streets away to another condo neighborhood.

[RKP5637]

11. HOA's are often OK, but the problem is the people that start to control them in positions

of power. Far too often people don't attend or pay attention to HOA meetings and who is being elected. I'm lucky, our HOA does things like get incredibly cheap refuse collection, etc. Maintain the common grounds and install very nice landscaping, things like that. They don't invade ones personal space. That said, a hell of a lot of HOAs are horrible. Far too often control freaks move into HOA positions of power.

[CaptainTruth]

4. I would never be part of an HOA.

My father, uncles, grandfather etc didn't fight in WWI & WWII so someone could tell me what color I'm allowed to paint my house.

Let freedom (& pigment) ring.

[JayhawkSD]

6. There are two kinds of people who sign up for HOA boards

One is people who genuinely want to help their neighborhood. The other is a person who has never had any kind of power or authority and wants to be on the board in order to feel important and feel the power that he/she has been denied all his/her life.

The first type serve one term and bail out. They find the experience of serving on the board to be frustrating and painful because of all of the second type that they are having to serve with. They cannot wait for their term to end so that they can stop having to consort with these absolute assholes.

The second type drive all of the first type off of the board and get themselves reelected, and then run the HOA as their own personal fiefdom, wallowing in the sense of power that it gives them in their sad dreary little lives.

[Maggiemayhem]

7. In WV, if you live in a subdivision, if you want the roads plowed and maintained

You need an HOA. That is all ours exist for it to pay a road maintenance fee.

[steve2470]

8. they want it down now after TWO YEARS ?

I think any good lawyer can run with this fact and prove blatant discrimination. It's not like she put it up and was told 24 hours later that it did not conform to the HOA rules. The whole thing stinks of blatant homophobia, even if it had been 24 hours later.