The organization opposes religious displays at Cranston City Hall on constitutional grounds, but says the addition of plastic flamingos trivializes religion.

09:41 AM EST on Thursday, December 18, 2003

BY BARBARA POLICHETTI
Journal Staff Writer

CRANSTON -- A flock of 15 pink flamingos -- all wearing tiny Santa Claus caps -- has landed on the front lawn of City Hall right between a baby Jesus in a manger and a large menorah.

The plastic birds, which bring season's greetings from "The Church of the Pink Flamingo," are the latest addition to a holiday display that is drawing fire from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLU announced yesterday that it will file a lawsuit in federal court challenging the display, which residents are erecting piecemeal at the invitation of Mayor Stephen P. Laffey.

Each decoration must be approved by the mayor's office and as of yesterday afternoon, the display included a near-life-size Nativity scene, a menorah, three Santas, an inflatable snowman, an angel -- and the flamingos.

"The ACLU believes that the city's approval of the display of a Nativity scene and menorah in front of the seat of government -- and immediately adjacent to a public school cannot withstand constitutional scrutiny," said Steven Brown, director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the ACLU. "Public officials simply should not be in the business of promoting religious symbols or serve as arbiters of what are or are not appropriate holiday displays."

Laffey responded to the ACLU's planned legal action by saying, "As everyone knows, both the Grinch and Scrooge had a change of heart when they found out the true meaning of Christmas. And even though Mr. Brown may say, 'Bah Humbug' to Cranston, we say to him, 'Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men.' "

He said that residents are telling him that they love the continually expanding display, and that even though he was surprised to find the flamingos yesterday morning, he thinks that they fit in just fine.

Journal photo / Bill Murphy LEGS TO STAND ON?: A group of 15 plastic pink flamingos that showed up on the lawn of Cranston City hall on Tuesday night has received mixed reviews.

The flamingos are the handiwork of resident Scott Bonelli, who said he put them up shortly before 10 p.m. on Tuesday after watching news reports of the fight brewing between the city and the ACLU over the holiday display.

Bonelli, who designs theater sets and creates adult sex toys, said that he decided to get involved -- not to make a statement about the separation of church and state -- but because Laffey's policy regarding the display leaves it up to the mayor's office to decide whether or not a decoration is tasteful enough to be in front of City Hall.

"I was offended about [the city] being arbitrary about good taste," Bonelli, 36, said yesterday. "And what says good taste more than pink flamingos?"

"It's a little political statement," he said. "And as much as it is my being a bit smart-ass -- to which I fully admit -- it is also about promoting active dialogue.

"I want people to drive by and smile at the damn pink flamingos," he said. "And it is a bit of a mockery of the whole [city versus ACLU] situation, but it's also letting the city know that if you're going to allow one group to use City Hall lawn, you'd better allow everyone.

"It's a warning that this is opening up a can of worms."

A collector of pink flamingos with 45 on the front lawn of his Bracken Street home, Bonelli said that he decided on the spur of the moment to put the birds up Tuesday night.

"I burned my fingers with the glue gun," he said of his hasty work that transformed a Christmas tree skirt into the tiny red and white Santa caps.

He also created a large silver sign, which he put in the middle of the flock and which bears the message, "Wishing you a Festive Flamingo Day. In the spirit of the Great Flamingo, spread love, peace and frivolity to your neighbors and the world."

It is signed as a "message from the Church of the Pink Flamingo," states that no tax dollars were used for the display, and includes Bonelli's phone number.

He said Laffey's office called him yesterday and asked him to fill out the necessary paperwork for the public display. "Everyone had a good sense of humor about it," Bonelli said of the reception he received at City Hall. "I think everyone knows I'm having a little fun, and also no one wants to insult me if I am serious."

Laffey said that he readily approved the bright birds and that he thinks that they are "relatively tasteful. He said he has no problems with the flamingos perched next to a Nativity scene.

"They're nice flamingos," he said. "And when this whole thing is over, the only thing that people may remember is those flamingos."

Journal photo / Kathy Borchers Scott Bonelli adjusts the Santa hat on one of the 45 plastic flamingoes he's set up around his Bracken Street home in Cranston. Bonelli has placed 15 similar flamingoes in front of Cranston City Hall.

Earlier in the week, even before the arrival of the flamingos, Laffey said that he did not think that the holiday display ran afoul of a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed the City of Pawtucket to keep a Nativity scene as a small part of a much larger holiday display that included many other secular decorations.

Brown said that ACLU lawyers spotted the flamingos yesterday morning. The expansion of the display did not affect their decision to go to court with a lawsuit to be filed as soon as possible, he said.

"All this does does is highlight the fact that when government gets involved in religion, religion ends up getting trivialized and degraded," Brown said.

"If Cranston wants to display a Nativity scene at the cost of putting it next to Santa Claus and flamingos, then they deserve whatever they get."

"It's the ACLU that gets accused of being anti-religious by filing these types of lawsuits," Brown said, "but this shows that it's precisely the opposite. It's politicians that abuse and demote religion.

"I would think that most religious people would be terribly offended by having the sacred birth of Jesus just a few feet away from plastic flamingos in Santa Claus outfits."

Laffey countered that Brown is contradicting himself, "first saying that we're endorsing religion and now he's saying that we're trivializing it.

"Besides," he said, "Mr. Brown is not the fashion police for Cranston."

Bonelli, staying out of the back-and-forth between the city and the ACLU, said, "My first goal is just to be a cheap smile, and beyond that, my intention is to make people think."