A mayor in Washington state went nuclear on an LGBTQ activist after she went on a rant in which she described the city flying the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag as a “political stunt” during the public comment portion of a city council meeting. The exchange between the two occurred near the end of the Newcastle City Council meeting and involved Mayor Robert Clark and a woman who goes by the name Jen.
Jen was the first individual to come up and deliver comments after Clark opened up the floor to hear from the public. She kicked off her tirade by saying she hopes Clark will support the pride flag “in proclamation this year” since he, according to her, has a “new-found appreciation” for flags other than the American flag, an obvious jab at him and the city for flying the POW/MIA flag.
A vote was taken in 2025 by the city council, which decided not to fly the pride flag over city hall during pride month. The decision was later flipped due to public outrage. However, at the time, Clark spoke with local news outlet KOMO and said that if the pride flag was going to be flown, then everyone’s flag had to be flown.
“Do you want a Hamas flag flying over the City of Newcastle? Or a MAGA flag? How about a Trump flag or an Antifa flag? We’re not going there folks,” Clark went on to say at the time. “Everybody is equally represented by the American flag.” The activist then compared the population of American POWs or MIAs, with that of the LGBT community, insinuating the pride flag represents a larger group of people.
“My research shows that there have been 82,000 Americans who are registered as POWs or MIAs, which is atrocious and horrible, and it should never happen to any American, but there [are] 20 million minimum LGBTQ members,”Jen said in a video clip of the exchange that is now going viral. “So when we’re talking about special interests, let’s just have some intellectual integrity,” she added.
“I’ve talked before about the hypocrisy of some of the people up on that dais, and I think that your approach to trying to trick people out of having to fly the pride flag in June by making sure that the POW/MIA flag was flown is really disgusting. And, again, it’s not impartial in any way, and I think you should be ashamed. I definitely am. Thank you,” Jen concluded her comments.
Jen’s statement rubbed Clark the wrong way, so he decided to respond, which is something the Newcastle mayor rarely does during these meetings. “It’s not common that I respond to public comment, but I will not sit here and have somebody tell me that veterans are a political stunt. How dare you? This country was founded because veterans lost their lives,” he scolded the activist.
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“Hundreds of thousands of people died for this country so that you could fly your pride flag,” he continued, growing more passionate. “Man, I am pissed. Perhaps my council members will censure me for this, but do not ever disparage veterans in my presence. Those 82,000 people who never came home will never have a chance to have a family or grow up while you can fly your pride flag.”
“They sacrifice their lives all over the world for America and for freedom around the world. I tolerate your comments, which are always on the attack, and all your libelous comments on Facebook. I tolerate it because you know you probably can’t help yourself, but don’t ever disparage veterans in front of me. Don’t ever disparage veterans in front of me. And we’re done,” he finished.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video