The proposal by Rainbow House Inc., a local LGBTQ+ nonprofit resource center, presented a plan to hang streetlight banners and paint crosswalks during Pride Month.

It was denied, 3-2, by the Solvang City Council.  

“We weren’t going to change anything … it was going to be professionally done,” Rainbow House Inc. Executive Director Matthew Cavalli told KEYT. 

“The testimony was very surprising, we thought they were going to be supportive but some of the things council was saying and some of the things the citizens were was completely baffling,” he continued.

During the meeting, Councilmember Robert Clarke, who voted against the display, conflated Pride with groups associated with hate speech or far right-wing policy: “Whether it be MAGA, Tea Party — you name it, we shouldn’t be having political banners promoting a specific event in Solvang,” Clarke said.  

Prior to his “no” vote, Clarke also went off on a tirade — about Solvang’s friendliness: “When people want to disparage anything about this damn town, I take offense to it,” Clarke reportedly said before rejecting the application. “… This is the friendliest goddamn town I’ve ever been in. People here are welcoming; they’re warm; they embrace everybody.”  

George Rose/Getty Images
George Rose/Getty Images

Clarke later voiced regret for some of his comments during the meeting. He said he apologized to the mayor and sent an email to the city council and staff for letting “my emotions get the best of me.”

However, the Santa Barbara Independent obtained (through a Freedom of Information Act request) Clarke’s texts and emails to Santa Ynez Valley Common Sense, a local conservative group, following the meeting. In those texts, Clarke expressed anything but contrition.

He “called his colleagues ‘bozos’ for revisiting their previous vote and ‘bowing to a tiny woke mob,’” the Independent reported. “He vowed to ‘keep fighting this crap’ and suggested Solvang cancel its upcoming Pride parade because of the backlash he has personally received over his comments.”

The fallout from the council’s “no” vote also made international news when Lord Mayor of Copenhagen Sophie Haestorp Andersen wrote an open letter to Solvang city leaders in April.  

“I was surprised to read about the opposition from some of your councilmembers to ideas put forward by your LGBTI+ community for Solvang to embrace Santa Ynez Valley Pride publicly and visibly,” Andersen wrote in a letter addressed to Mayor Mark Infanti. “I was also shocked to read of the burning of Pride flags shortly after Pride events last summer.”

“Your city’s status as ‘the Danish capital of America’ is something that you rightly cherish,” Anderson continued, before extolling the progressive position Denmark has historically taken toward LGTBQ+ issues.

Copenhagen Pride, Denmark’s leading LGBTQ advocacy group, also said in April that it would replace every pride flag burned last summer with two more and send them to Solvang.  

“I was stunned to hear about the opposition to Santa Ynez Valley Pride and smaller Pride events in Solvang,” Lars Henriksen, political chairperson of the organization, said in a statement.

This support from abroad, along with the headlines from the “no” vote here, spurred the Solvang City Council to revisit its decision at the end of April.

Infanti changed his mind and cast the swing vote in favor of the banners, along with Councilmembers Elizabeth Orona and Claudia Orona (who are not related). Councilmembers Clarke and David Brown voted against the banners. SFGATE contacted both Clarke and Brown for comment on their “no” votes, but they did not respond by press time.

The council’s reversal and ultimate “yes” vote to hang the pride banners also came with a few big asterisks attached. The banners will be hung up for only 10 days this month (not the entire month), and no crosswalks were painted.  

The biggest caveat was inspired by comments made by Solvang resident Jessie Bengoa, who spoke out against the banners prior to the council’s “no” decision in March. “Our town has a culture; it has a heritage. We have a brand that’s unique. It’s the first rule of branding to know who you are and unwaveringly stick to it,” she said at the city council meeting. “You don’t confuse, you don’t divide, you don’t alienate visitors or potential visitors by suddenly waging a woke campaign that’s not inclusive — it’s divisive.”

In April, prior to the reinstatement of the banners, Bengoa argued that if the city allowed pride banners, it would be forced to display other community interests. “Otherwise, the council will be exhibiting extremely discriminatory behavior and setting itself up for legal intervention,” she said.

Based on this warning, the council voted to prohibit all non-city-specific banners, which means that after this month’s Pride celebration, only banners with the Danish flag and crown will be allowed in Solvang.

Despite attempts from some in power to limit or restrict Pride celebrations, the majority of residents have continued to back Pride and the LGBTQ+ community here, Pride organizers say.  

“I think the community is really supportive and comes together,” Lauren Lastra, board president of Santa Ynez Valley Pride, told SFGATE this week. “Last year, when the pride flags were torn down and burned, the community really rallied and came together.”

Lastra said during the city council controversy, the local community at large also rallied in support of the LGBTQ+ community, showing up for it in public forums. That made her organization and its volunteers feel safe and supported.

At the same time, she said the small size of the towns in the region, combined with their popularity as destinations, means when something controversial does happen, it tends to grab headlines. 

“Things happen in larger towns like Santa Barbara, or someone’s flag gets stolen, and it won’t make the news,” she said.  

Santa Ynez Valley Pride is smaller in scale, she admits, but with that come good things: “I always describe it as a great first Pride event if you’re newly out of the closet or questioning,” she said. “It’s very community-oriented, very family-friendly. We are a small organization, solely volunteers, and we rely heavily on just local donations. The community has really stepped up, and we’re trying to build bridges.”

Santa Ynez Valley Pride’s Lastra also said the community’s outpouring of LGBTQ+ support in the wake of recent negative events better shows the current reality here. “My wife and I agree that there’s more of a sense of community with LGBTQ+ with residents and allies,” she said, noting she expects the Santa Ynez Valley’s June 24 Pride celebration to be the biggest it’s ever been. “Now, I’m a person who attends city council meetings and the PTSA meetings. There’s a level of involvement. In bigger cities, sometimes you assume you’ll work out just fine.

“I think at least for Santa Ynez Valley Pride, we try to really move away from the us vs. them narrative that loves to be pushed, really, at the national level right now. The anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is really rampant [along with] misinformation,” she continued. “But from my perspective, these are opportunities to learn, educate folks and move forward from. It’s all taught. Homophobia has to be unlearned.”

SFGATE editor-at-large Andrew Chamings contributed to this report.