Many flags fly over Chapel Hill during NC Pride 2016

Chapel Hill sported a little more than its usual powder blue this week. Rainbow and other flags of various colors could be seen hanging above Franklin Street to express LGBTQ pride.

The Triangle celebrated North Carolina’s 32nd annual gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender festival Saturday in Durham with a parade, speeches, night festivals and an N.C. Pride 5K Run.

Yet the flags hanging above the streets of Chapel Hill and Carrboro hold far more significance than simply to celebrate the festivities of the weekend — they serve as tributes to the area’s diverse and welcoming nature.

Former Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said Pride has a long history in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and the community has always been eager to play an active role in the N.C. Pride celebration.

Carrboro Board of Aldermen member Damon Seils said Carrboro has been celebrating Pride since the ‘90s, when it became the first municipality in N.C. to elect an openly gay mayor.

“I think it’s important for both Carrboro and Chapel Hill to take these kinds of actions — we’re showing people how welcoming of a community we are,” Seils said.

This year was different, said Meg McGurk, executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership. Instead of all 26 flags showing the general LGBTQ rainbow, McGurk said some of the flags specifically represent transgender, genderqueer, asexual and bisexual identities.

“You’ll see the different colored flags represent the different gender identities and expressions,” McGurk said.

She said the addition of more inclusive flags was intentional.

The flags are usually hung after significant events surrounding the LGBTQ cause, not just Pride Week, Kleinschmidt said. Flags were hung to commemorate last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, as well as to lament the lives lost in the Orlando nightclub shooting this summer. Earlier this year when House Bill 2 took effect, the flags were hung to express Chapel Hill’s support for LGBTQ people.

“It seemed appropriate that since there were flag representations for that segment of the community that we honor those being targeted most directly by HB2 — the transgender community,” Kleinschmidt said.

McGurk said right around the time the state passed HB2, Chapel Hill and the Downtown Partnership wanted to hang the usual rainbow pride flags. But it was Terri Phoenix, director of the LGBTQ Center at UNC, who gave McGurk the idea to add more specific gender identity flags to create a more inclusive environment.

“If we are going to put flags up, I thought it might be neat to include some of the flags from other identities that are a part of LGBTQ communities, but are not necessarily made as visible,” Phoenix said. “We are still living in a society where LGBTQ identities are marginalized.”

Although it may seem like a small gesture, McGurk said the flags could be very meaningful to some people, especially since the passing of HB2.

For some Chapel Hill citizens and UNC students, simply seeing the flags waving above serves as a physical representation of the town’s openness to all.

“I think it’s great that we are showing our support for our entire community,” said Nadia Parashkevova, a UNC sophomore. “With a lot of the hate that’s going on right now, I think it’s important we show we are an inclusive community.”

city@dailytarheel.com