Beloved drag queen Hedda Lettuce on Monday slammed officials in Cherry Grove on Fire Island, the legendary gay beach outside New York City, for lowering its flags to half-mast in recognition of the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
The decision “felt like an assault! A hate crime. It was a f** bashing with our very own flag,” the drag artist said in an emotional TikTok post. Kirk was answering a question about mass shootings when he was fatally shot through the neck last Wednesday afternoon at Utah Valley University. President Trump, a longtime ally of the far-right conservative activist, ordered flags lowered to half-mast through last Sunday.
Presidential flag directives do not carry the force of law and only apply to federal government property, leaving compliance up to the discretion of individual states, cities, and other areas. “Yesterday I received a text from my friend Clark. It was a photograph of the flags on the Cherry Grove Fire Island Dock flying at half-mast. Below it read, ‘Flags at half-mast for Kirk.’ I thought he joking. I wrote back, ‘William Shatner better have died because they can’t be serious!’ Clark wrote back, ‘No, it was for Charlie Kirk, not Captain Kirk, you dope. The CGAA Dockmaster decided this, following the national directive.’ I was aghast. It was like a punch to the stomach.”
It’s unclear if by “CGAA,” Lettuce meant the CGCA (the Cherry Grove Community Association), a local group representing property owners, seasonal renters, and businesses.
“It is one thing to lower the American flag half-mast, but to lower the gay Pride flag for a man whose hate speech towards my community caused so much suffering felt like an assault! A hate crime. It was a f** bashing with our very own flag,” she continued.
“Cherry Grove Fire Island has been a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community for decades, a refuge from an intolerant world,” she continued. “And now we were honoring a man whose very ideals are like acid thrown in the face our community. This person would never have stepped foot in Cherry Grove, and yet there he was. Even after his death — his menacing presence flaunted over my sacred little town.”
“But there is a dark underbelly to this town,” she said. “Many of the business owners are Trump-loving Republicans, just waiting to take our beloved rainbow flag and raise it half-mast for a rancid homophobe. I don’t know how we come back from this. My sweet safe Fire Island has been violated by their wickedness.”
The gay mecca of West Hollywood, California, flew its public, rainbow-colored LGBTQ+ flags at half-mast this weekend in memory of Kirk.
“The City’s action should not be interpreted as an expression of alignment with, or endorsement of, Mr. Kirk’s political views or actions. Rather, the action was undertaken in accordance with the City’s Policy for Recognitions and Memorials, which acknowledges that the City follows the direction of the President in determining when flags in the City are flown at half-staff,” city officials said in a statement quoted by WeHo Times.
The city added that it would revisit this flag policy “in the coming weeks … to ensure that it appropriately reflects the values of the West Hollywood community.”
The Hersheys Ice Cream store and the big Pizza parlor in Cherry Grove are owned by the Trump-loving Republicans Hedda mentions.