The City of Cincinnati will raise the rainbow flag signifying LGBTQ equality and the city's dedication to being being inclusive for the first time this year.

And, City Hall doesn't just have one flag. It has two.

City Councilman Chris Seelbach, council's first openly gay council member who championed LGBTQ legislation that earned the city a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index, bought a flag.

And so did Councilman Greg Landsman. He said he saw a Pride flag at the Newark Liberty International Airport, and it occurred to him that Cincinnati should do the same.

Seelbach said he had been thinking about it for awhile and then he and Landsman talked last week after seeing Louisville City Hall raised a Pride flag.

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Unbeknownst to each other, they both bought one. Seelbach reached out to Oakley Flags for one and the shop tried, but it wouldn't have arrive in time. So he turned the internet instead.

"Chris and I talked over the weekend, both ordered (a flag), and hopefully, next year, there will be one at City Hall again, and one in our airport," Landsman said. "People traveling to (or through) should know we’ve changed so much – and Chris has been such a huge part of that change."

A ceremony is planned for Friday, ahead of Pride weekend.

"It's incredible how far we've come," Seelbach said. "If you told somebody in 2004 – before the repeal of Article 12 – we'd be in 15 years putting up this flag, nobody would have believed it."

For years Cincinnati had a law on the books, known as Article 12, allowing discrimination based on sexual orientation. Citizens repealed it 2004

Cincinnati has scored a 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index since 2014. The city has legislation banning conversion therapy for minors, providing transgender health care for city employees and is one of the first cities to have dedicated LGBTQ liaisons in the police and fire departments.

"After years of struggle, hard work, and personal testimony by and for people who just want to love each other, Cincinnati has been transformed into a welcoming city for LGBTQ citizens," Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said. "Raising the pride flag Friday will have been earned by blood, sweat, and tears and I am proud to be part of raising it. It will be an historic day for our Queen City."

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