Iraq War Veteran Ordered To Remove American Flag From Home, Claim Mounting It To His House Is Against HOA Rules
According to the Home Owner’s Association in the Belmont Park community of Sufolk, Virginia, flying the American flag on your house is against the HOA rules.
Residents of the neighborhood, specifically Iraq War veteran Daniel Toner, have received mixed messages about flying the American flag on their homes. Initially, he was told that it would be okay to fly the flag. However, the decision was soon reversed when he received a letter stating that flying the American flag is unacceptable. As someone that defended the right to fly the American flag, Toner refuses to take it down.
Daniel Toner rents his home in the Belmont Park community and shared that he did reach out to the Home Owner’s Association property manager, Chesapeake Bay Management, Inc., to inquire how he should properly display the flag according to HOA rules and regulations, as reported by the Blaze. Tone received an email response stating that he could fly the flag on his home as long as he followed the predetermined guidelines. However, he soon received a new letter stating that he would need to remove the American flag until an updated resolution in the guidelines could be approved. As a result in the reversal of permission, Toner was upset that flying the American flag was even under debate.
“You shouldn’t even have to ask permission to have an American flag on your property,”
Toner has refused to remove the American flag, referencing an act of Congress that allows him the right to fly the flag, according to WISH TV. The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2006 provides every American the freedom to fly the American flag.
“A condominium association, cooperative association, or residential real estate management association may not adopt or enforce any policy, or enter into any agreement, that would restrict or prevent a member of the association from displaying the flag of the United States on residential property within the association with respect to which such member has a separate ownership interest or a right to exclusive possession or use.”
Despite the Congressional act, there is a clause that allows a Home Owner’s Association to restrict where a flag may be flown on the property, when it may be flown, and how it may be flown, The issue, according to the HOA is not that Toner is fly the American flag, but that the attachment to his house has altered the home’s structure.
[Photo By: Tom Pennington/Getty Images Sport]
