Gov. Brewer Signs Law Giving Tea Party Flag Same Status As American Flag

While Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) is rightly being praised for vetoing a so-called “birther bill” yesterday, she also quietly signed into law legislation that gives the Tea Party-associated Gadsen Flag the same protection as the American flag when it comes to home owners associations (HOA), the Arizona Daily Star reports:

Brewer also signed separate legislation Monday to expand the list of flags that HOA residents could fly despite regulations to the contrary. 

Current law overrides any rules when it comes to the U.S. flag, the flags of any branch of the military, the state flag, the POW-MIA flag and the flag of any Indian nation. The new law will add the Gadsden flag to that protected list, that yellow flag with the drawing of a coiled rattlesnake and the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me.”

While the yellow banner dates back to the American Revolution, the flag and its “don’t tread on me” slogan have been appropriated by the modern day tea party movement and are now closely associated with the right-wing activists (it’s even on the tea party race car). The legislation came into being in the wake of a national controversy last summer sparked by an Arizona man who refused to comply with his homeowners association’s request that he remove a Gadsen flag from his house.