Why Hilton Head tourists were told to take down Trump flags from their rental home
A West Virginia family vacationing on Hilton Head Island says they were unfairly targeted for hanging two flags supporting President Donald Trump on their rental home.
The family, staying in the south beach area, said they were asked by Sea Pines Security to remove their flags, which were attached to the rental home’s railings facing the beach.
One of the flags features Trump’s recognizable blue logo with the slogan “Keep America Great.”
The second features Trump’s name and the phrase: “No More Bull----.”
Kenneth Nanners said security first contacted his family on Sunday morning, when he said a security guard told the family someone on the beach complained about the flags.
“We’ve flown the West Virginia flag every year before and we never had a problem,” he said, calling the incident political censorship. “Walking down the beach and you see Clemson and Tennessee flags and they’re fine.”
Nanners said his family has received other reactions to the flags.
Some beachgoers come up to the home to take photos of the flag in support, but on Sunday morning a man biking by raised his middle finger to the family.
Nanners’ brother Lee Paull said the family flies the flags and puts bumper stickers on their car to show their support for the president. This is the first year they’ve flown the flag on their annual trip to Hilton Head.
“It’s election year, we just want to promote him,” Paull said.
After the initial visit from security, Nanners said the family didn’t remove the flags from the home’s railings.
On Tuesday, their short-term rental company Vacasa contacted the family and told them if they didn’t remove the flags, the property’s owners could be fined up to $2,500.
They then removed the flags, Nanners said.
Sea Pines Security declined to comment on the specific incident, but the community’s short-term rental rules do not limit flags. In a separate set of rules for property owners, flags under three feet by five feet are allowed “so long as they do not depict a disparaging message.”
All signs, including political and real estate signs, are prohibited in Sea Pines. In addition, the community’s rules say “beach accouterments such as towels and bathing suits may not be hung on railing/balconies or any other location where visible from adjoining properties, a golf course, the beach, or the road.”
While Sea Pines Security did not tell the family that the flag was “disparaging,” Nanners and Paull said the move has caused the family a headache.
“We have a freedom to express our own identity,” Nanners said. “I think were being singled out because it’s Trump flags.”
While the family removed the flags from the rented home, they continued to show their support by carrying them during walks on the Sea Pines beach.
In recent weeks, Trump flags have been seen flying over homes outside of Sea Pines on North Forest Beach.
On July 5, a Trump boat parade on Lake Murray attracted thousands to the Columbia- area reservoir to support the president’s re-election bid.
