Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Marine Corps veteran Clifford Hughes wants to display the flag outside his condominium in Moon; the condo association has said no. Click photo for larger image.

HARRISBURG -- Clifford G. Hughes wants to fly the American flag outside his home. But his home is a condominium in Moon, and the condo association at Forest Glenn says American flags, and all others, are a no-no, except on certain holidays.

So at Hughes' request, state Rep. Mark Mustio, R-Moon, has introduced a bill that would give Pennsylvanians the right to fly the U.S. flag, and state and military flags, even if the person has signed a homeowner's agreement forbidding flag display.

The flag policy isn't unique to Forest Glenn -- in fact, it's common at condos across the country. Homeowners get neat hedges, a fresh coat of paint each year, and a guarantee that the neighbor won't suddenly develop an obsession with flamingo-themed lawn ornaments. In exchange, they give up the right to bedeck the outsides of their homes with personal touches.

But are condo covenants, often derided for their abundance of trifling rules and regulations, crossing the line when they say no to the Stars and Stripes? Or is this just another case of a lawmaker -- almost literally, in this example -- wrapping himself in the flag?

Hughes, a Marine Corps vet who served during World War II and the Korean conflict, said if he and his fists were a few decades younger, they'd take the folks from Forest Glenn out back and teach them a lesson.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to have some jerk tell me I can't fly the flag," said Hughes, 81. "This is, I think, still America."

Forest Glenn's bylaws say that condo owners can fly the flag only on six holidays, including Memorial Day. But Hughes says a condo owner ought to be able to display the colors year-round.

"It's going up this weekend, and it's staying up," he said last week.

Forest Glenn says its bylaws are mainly designed to prevent the improper display of the U.S. flag and others -- holiday flags, national flags from other countries -- and says that Hughes is the only resident who has expressed any problem with the flag policy. The condo association also flies its own American flag in the courtyard area, so it's not as if the association has something against the United States.

Mustio's proposal, House bill No. 759, says a condo association "may not prohibit the outdoor display of one American flag, Commonwealth flag or military flag by a unit owner on that unit owner's property," so long as the flag is smaller than 5 by 3 feet.

It would appear to be a difficult bill to vote against, if it's ever called to the House floor. But one Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Babette Josephs of Philadelphia, said the flag bill is on a slippery slope, constitutionally.

"I think this is a matter of contract law," Josephs said, meaning a person who buys a condominium implicitly, or at least tacitly, agrees to live by the condo association's rules. She also said that the Mustio bill is itself a potential free speech land mine, because it allows a person to display an American flag, but not an Israeli or Irish one.

She may have a point. In Tennessee, for instance, the attorney general ruled against a law similar to Mustio's. The law, the attorney general said, would have tampered with existing contracts between homeowners and neighborhood associations, and it would have interfered with free speech rights by forcing a condo group to allow display of the U.S. flag, but forbidding the display of other types of flags, according to the Associated Press.

But elsewhere, homeowners have won over the associations.

In Vancouver, Wash., a homeowner last year won the right to erect a flagpole in her yard, and the Washington legislature eventually passed a law accommodating other would-be flag-flyers.

And in Florida, a guy nicknamed "Jupiter's Flag Man" -- his real name is George Andres -- has been fighting with his homeowner's association for six years to erect a flag and flag pole in his front yard. Andres -- a former Marine, like Hughes -- continues to fly his flag, thanks to a temporary court injunction. His homeowners association, meanwhile, has won several rounds of court battles against the retired electrician, but has so far failed to recover legal fees -- the association wanted the courts to foreclose on Andres' home, but that request was denied.

That sort of nasty battle contributes to the impression that condo associations are not only nitpickers of the highest order, but also vindictive at times. Mustio said he understands why the associations would want to keep a tidy house, but he also thinks that associations must understand the passions of veterans and others who want to fly the flag.

"I understand the need for covenants," he said. "I understand why they don't want to see a bunch of rag-tag things out there. [But] The way the bill is written, it's in tasteful fashion."