‘We are standing with you’: Lansing raises Pride flag over City Hall to recognize LGBTQ+ community

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor was joined by elected officials to raise an LGBTQ+ Pride flag over Lansing City Hall on Monday afternoon, marking the first day of Pride Month in 2026. 

“We’re proud to do this, we’re proud to have the Pride flag go up right here in the capital city, showing everybody that these are our beliefs, that we believe in love for all, that we believe in pride, that we believe in in the LGBTQ+ community, that these are just standard things that we believe here in Lansing,” Schor said. “We are welcoming, we are inclusive, we’re proudly diverse.”

Schor emphasized that, since the city has been raising the Pride flag in front of City Hall, the crowd for the flag-raising ceremony has increased each year.

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But across the street at the State Capitol, celebrations for Pride month — especially in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives — are far more muted. In 2025, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) refused to bring to a vote a resolution acknowledging Pride Month, which had been passed by the Legislature the prior two years when the Democrats held a trifecta. While it remains to be seen what exactly each chamber of the Legislature will do this year to recognize Pride Month, it’s likely that Republican House leadership will take a similar approach. 

To those legislators who would oppose such resolutions or other recognition of Pride Month, Schor said that raising the Pride flag across the street shows what Lansing believes in, adding, “This says the city that you come to in order to pass the laws is supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, is wanting to show their support publicly to everyone. It says that not just to the legislators, it says it to all the folks that all the workers that come to work here, all the school groups that come to visit.”

Chris Swope, the Lansing city clerk and one of the first openly gay elected officials in the city, added that even though next year, City Hall will have relocated to a new location south of the Capitol — that does not make it less important for the state’s capital city to be recognizing the LGBTQ+ community. 

“I appreciate the voters of Lansing for the welcoming atmosphere that we have here in the city, not just for LGBTQ folks, but for every different stripe and flavor of people,” Swope said. “I think it’s so important to just show that symbolism right across the street from the Capitol.”

“As we continue to grow and evolve in our current climate, we know that visibility is important,” Ben Dowd, president of Lansing Pride, added. “We know that there are communities that are not allowing things like this to happen, and that this doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Lansing City Council member Ryan Kost initially proposed the idea of raising the Pride flag outside City Hall to Schor just a few years ago, with his fellow councilmember Tamera Carter noting that the decision came out of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives like those that have been targeted by state and federal officials in recent years. 

“It’s exciting for me, as someone who is openly gay and elected to the first ward, to be able to see my city support me and all of our people by putting up the Pride flag, in rejecting what is easy today with hateful politics,” Kost said. “We proudly celebrate Pride Month here in Lansing, and we will continue to do so no matter what.”