History was made shortly after noon today when the flag of Swindon & Wiltshire Pride was hoisted over the Civic Offices.
The flag, right, flies over the Civic Offices for the first time
The move followed disappointment yesterday when the planned raising of the flag in the town centre had to be abandoned when the flagpole was found to have been vandalised.
The Pride team posted about the problem on social media, and the message was read by new Swindon Borough Council leader Cllr Jim Robbins.
According to the team, within 12 hours Cllr Robbins amended an old council policy relating to the displaying of flags and ensured that the Pride flag could be flown.
Swindon & Wiltshire Pride Community Engagement Manager Phoenix Stewart said: "For the last couple of years we've been quietly fighting away in the background to get the flag on a council building.
"Wiltshire Council do it and Swindon Council don't, so Swindon people find it weird that there are two different rules there. Ultimately it came to a head yesterday, when we tried to put the flag up on the flagpole in the town.
"It has been vandalised."
Mr Stewart said he did not know whether the vandalism was directly related to Pride, and added: "We did a bit of a plea, a call out, and we tagged in Jim Robbins. He got everything moving. He wasn't aware there was a policy in place, but he looked into it and within the space of 12 hours we were somehow able to get it overturned, changed or updated.
"This is the first time ever that the flag has flown on a council building in Swindon. This is history in the making. It might just seem like a small gesture but it's huge for the community and for Swindon.
"The council had always been supportive anyway, so it just felt like a really outdated policy that was left in place. It's nice to see that being changed."
Cllr Robbins said: "I am very pleased that the council is going to be flying the Pride flag. As soon as I heard from the Swindon & Wiltshire Pride team that they couldn't use their usual flagpole, I was keen to just get involved and see how we could help.
"It turned out that we can fly the flag, it's within our policy, so it seemed like the sensible thing to do was get going and get it flying above the building and show our support.
"We are really keen to show that we're a different type of administration. We want to show that we're responsive to the people of Swindon and that we're dynamic in getting things done.
"We want things to change and we want people to have their experience of the council changed, so we were really keen to get this in and once we started speaking to officers it was clear that we could do it."
He added: "There are lots of LGBTQ+ residents and people who work for the council and councillors, and it's important that we show our support and our recognition during Pride Month, so I'm really pleased that we're doing it."
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