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Controversy over Pride flag raising sparks heated exchange at Piscataway council meeting
Summary
A resident criticized a Pride flag raising for excluding community members; council members defended the event and an emotional exchange ensued during public comment on June 11, 2026.
At the June 11 meeting a member of the public, Stacy Berger of 233 Ellis Parkway, accused the council president of holding a Pride flag raising without inviting the broader community and said that organizers had shut out LGBTQ residents. "You just decided you were gonna show up that day with a pride flag and raise it by yourself," Berger told the council, and said she planned to use OPRA to request officials' personal emails used for government business.
Council Member Laura Leibowitz and others said the apparent failure to notify all council members of recent events, including a pride-flag raising and a separate construction project attended by the lieutenant governor, was "unprofessional" and diminished opportunities for dialogue. Leibowitz said the omission amounted to erasure of targeted voices on the council.
The public exchange escalated: council members and the mayor's office defended their actions, and some council members called the criticism "rude and unacceptable," prompting an emotional back-and-forth and a request for adjournment. No formal disciplinary action or policy change was proposed during the meeting; the matter remained in the realm of public comment and member-to-member dispute.
