Trump Bans Pride Flags at U.S. Embassies
The Trump State Department is banning the Pride flag from being flown at U.S. embassies and government facilities both home and abroad.
The Trump administration officially banned Pride flags and other flags associated with left-wing causes from flying at U.S. embassies and outposts.
As first reported by The Washington Free Beacon, the U.S. State Department has adopted a “One Flag Policy” order, which permits only the American flag to be flown at U.S. facilities.
“Starting immediately, only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content,” the order states.
“The flag of the United States of America united all Americans under the universal principles of justice, liberty, and democracy. These values, which are the bedrock of our great country, are shared by all American citizens, past and present. The U.S. flag is a powerful symbol of pride and it is fitting and respectful that only the U.S. flag be flown or displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestically and abroad.”
The order contains two exceptions: one for the “Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) flag and another for the Wrongful Detainees flag, both of which may be flown below the American flag when hung from a single flagpole.
Any State Department employee found to have violated the “One Flag Policy” will “face disciplinary action, including termination of employment or contract, or reassignment to their home agency.”
The policy was adopted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed on January 20.
The order from Rubio indicates that the State Department is following through with promises made by President Donald Trump on the campaign trail last fall.
Trump has already issued a series of executive orders eliminating pro-diversity initiatives and programs at government agencies, including the State Department.
On Wednesday, the White House issued a memo to all federal agencies placing employees of DEI offices on paid leave while making plans to fire those individuals eventually.
Pride flags were first flown at U.S. embassies during former President Barack Obama’s administration, but were later banned during Trump’s first administration.
The Biden administration reversed course and allowed the rainbow-colored flags to be flown at U.S. properties overseas.
That policy change rankled conservatives, who accused Biden of pandering to left-wing causes and political movements.
The presence of Pride flags flying outside embassies angered not only congressional Republicans but governments in host countries — especially those in which same-sex intimacy is criminalized, where the government is cracking down on displays of LGBTQ visibility, or where same-sex marriage is illegal.
Biden also received criticism for flying the Pride flag alongside, and not below, the American flag during a Pride Month celebration at the White House in 2023.
The Biden administration also, on some occasions, raised or flew the “Black Lives Matter” flag at U.S. embassies — another move that elicited anger from conservatives.
As reported by Newsweek, the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Brazil raised the flag to commemorate Black History Month in February 2022. American embassies in Trinidad and Tobago also flew the “Black Lives Matter” flag.
To curb what they saw as abuses, Republicans in Congress introduced the “One Flag for All Act.” The bill sought to make it illegal to fly, drape, or display any flag beside the American flag at any government building.
Kevin Jennings, the CEO of Lambda Legal, told Newsweek that the policy is a form of virtue-signaling to those with anti-LGBTQ animus.
“Banning Pride and other flags is just petty and mean-spirited,” he said. “Flying such flags is simply a signal to people that they matter. It hurts no one.”
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