TITLE 50 STATE GOVERNMENT

Section 3. State Flag, Seal, and Other Symbols, 50-3-1 through 50-3-100.

ARTICLE 1 STATE AND OTHER FLAGS

50-3-1. Description of state flag; militia to carry flag; defacing public monuments; obstruction of Stone Mountain.

The flag of the State of Georgia shall consist of a square canton on a field of three horizontal bands of equal width. The top and bottom bands shall be scarlet and the center band white. The bottom band shall extend the entire length of the flag, while the center and top bands shall extend from the canton to the fly end of the flag. The canton of the flag shall consist of a square of blue the width of two of the bands, in the upper left of the hoist of the flag. In the center of the canton shall be placed a representation in gold of the coat of arms of Georgia as shown in the center of the obverse of the Great Seal of the State of Georgia adopted in 1799 and amended in 1914. Centered immediately beneath the coat of arms shall be the words "IN GOD WE TRUST" in capital letters. The coat of arms and wording "IN GOD WE TRUST" shall be encircled by 13 white five-pointed stars, representing Georgia and the 12 other original states that formed the United States of America. Official specifications of the flag, including color identification system, type sizes and fonts, and overall dimensions, shall be established by the Secretary of State, who pursuant to Code Section 50-3-4 serves as custodian of the state flag.Every force of the organized militia shall carry this flag while on parade or review.
1. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or other entity to mutilate, deface, defile, or abuse contemptuously any publicly owned monument, plaque, marker, or memorial which is dedicated to, honors, or recounts the military service of any past or present military personnel of this state, the United States of America or the several states thereof, or the Confederate States of America or the several states thereof, and no officer, body, or representative of state or local government or any department, agency, authority, or instrumentality thereof shall remove or conceal from display any such monument, plaque, marker, or memorial for the purpose of preventing the visible display of the same. A violation of this paragraph shall constitute a misdemeanor.
2. No publicly owned monument or memorial erected, constructed, created, or maintained on the public property of this state or its agencies, departments, authorities, or instrumentalities in honor of the military service of any past or present military personnel of this state, the United States of America or the several states thereof, or the Confederate States of America or the several states thereof shall be relocated, removed, concealed, obscured, or altered in any fashion; provided, however, that appropriate measures for the preservation, protection, and interpretation of such monuments or memorials shall not be prohibited.
3. Conduct prohibited by paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection shall be enjoined by the appropriate superior court upon proper application therefor.
4. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or other entity acting without authority to mutilate, deface, defile, abuse contemptuously, relocate, remove, conceal, or obscure any privately owned monument, plaque, marker, or memorial which is dedicated to, honors, or recounts the military service of any past or present military personnel of this state, the United States of America or the several states thereof, or the Confederate States of America or the several states thereof. Any person or entity who suffers injury or damages as a result of a violation of this paragraph may bring an action individually or in a representative capacity against the person or persons committing such violations to seek injunctive relief and to recover general and exemplary damages sustained as a result of such person's or persons' unlawful actions.
Any other provision of law notwithstanding, the memorial to the heroes of the Confederate States of America graven upon the face of Stone Mountain shall never be altered, removed, concealed, or obscured in any fashion and shall be preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.

(Ga. L. 1916, p. 158, § 3; Code 1933, § 86-1004; Ga. L. 1951, p. 311, § 43; Ga. L. 1955, p. 10, § 90; Ga. L. 1956, p. 38, § 1; Ga. L. 2001, p. 1, § 1; Ga. L. 2003, p. 26, § 1; Ga. L. 2004, p. 731, § 1.)

Cross references.

- Display of state flag by agencies, § 45-12-83.1.

Editor's notes.

- Ga. L. 2003, p. 26, § 2, not codified by the General Assembly, called for a referendum to modify the state flag which was held on March 2, 2004, and the 2003 State Flag, adopted at the 2003 Session of the General Assembly, was approved by a vote of 577,370 to 212,020.

Ga. L. 2003, p. 26, § 3, not codified by the General Assembly, provides for severability.

Law reviews.

- For note on the 2001 amendment to this Code section, see 18 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 305 (2001). For note on the 2003 amendment to this Code section, see 20 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 256 (2003).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Constitutionality of flag.

- Georgia state flag, which incorporated the stars and bars of the Confederate flag, did not violate an African-American citizen's equal protection rights, even though a discriminatory purpose was a motivating factor in the passage of O.C.G.A. § 50-3-1 since the evidence failed to show a sufficiently concrete, present-day discriminatory impact on African-Americans. Coleman v. Miller, 885 F. Supp. 1561 (N.D. Ga. 1995), aff'd, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998); Coleman v. Miller, 912 F. Supp. 522 (N.D. Ga. 1996), aff'd, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998).

State flag, incorporating the stars and bars of the Confederate flag, did not violate the due process clause by depriving an African-American citizen of any fundamental privacy interest in associating with white people free from unwarranted government intrusion since the record did not support the claim. Moreover, the plaintiff's right to associate with white people in general is not the type of intimate relationship garnering constitutional protection under this theory. Coleman v. Miller, 885 F. Supp. 1561 (N.D. Ga. 1995), aff'd, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998); Coleman v. Miller, 912 F. Supp. 522 (N.D. Ga. 1996), aff'd, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998).

African-American citizen's argument that the state flag, incorporating the stars and bars of the Confederate flag, compelled the African-American citizen to be the courier of a morally objectionable ideological message failed because the flag on the flag's face does not promulgate a sufficiently clear message of discrimination and because the record contained no evidence that the citizen was forced to acknowledge the flag in any way. Coleman v. Miller, 885 F. Supp. 1561 (N.D. Ga. 1995), aff'd, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998); Coleman v. Miller, 912 F. Supp. 522 (N.D. Ga. 1996), aff'd, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998).

Display of the Georgia state flag did not violate an African-American citizen's constitutional rights to equal protection and freedom of expression. Coleman v. Miller, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998).

Validity under federal law.

- For discussion of the state flag in relation to the federal Smith Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2385, Title II of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000a, and the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1971(b), see Coleman v. Miller, 885 F. Supp. 1561 (N.D. Ga. 1995), aff'd, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998); Coleman v. Miller, 912 F. Supp. 522 (N.D. Ga. 1996), aff'd, 117 F.3d 527 (11th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1011, 118 S. Ct. 1199, 140 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1998).

Cited in Gay v. Owens, 292 Ga. 480, 738 S.E.2d 614 (2013).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 35A Am. Jur. 2d, Flag, §§ 1, 2.

C.J.S.

- 36A C.J.S., Flags, § 1 et seq.

Cases Citing Georgia Code 50-3-1 From Courtlistener.com
Total Results: 3
SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS v. HENRY COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS (Two Cases)
Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 2022-10-25
Snippet: Confederate monument in alleged violation of OCGA § 50-3-1. But 3 the other
Gay v. Owens
Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 2013-02-18
Citation: 292 Ga. 480, 738 S.E.2d 614, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 283, 2013 WL 593516, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 156
Snippet: criminal justice agencies in other states”); and 50-3-1 (b) (1) (makes it unlawful to defile a publicly-owned
Banks County v. Chambers of Georgia, Inc.
Court: Supreme Court of Georgia | Date Filed: 1994-07-05
Citation: 264 Ga. 421, 444 S.E.2d 783, 94 Fulton County D. Rep. 2209, 1994 Ga. LEXIS 481
Snippet: Rathkopf, The Law of Zoning & Planning (4th ed.), § 50.03 [1], that the act of applying for a building permit

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