I remember visiting Kingston, Jamaica, a few years ago and we stayed right near the American Embassy. It was all lit up in rainbow colors to celebrate Pride Month, and it stuck out like a sore thumb and just seemed wildly out of place. All the locals I spoke to hated it. Right in their own capital, they were being told what to believe.
It also seemed incongruent to me because in my mind, United States embassies shouldn’t be used to promote sexual orientations of any kind. Their point is to conduct diplomacy, not make woke statements.
Donald Trump evidently feels the same way because the State Department has adopted a policy banning Pride and BLM flags at embassies and outposts around the globe, according to a Tuesday report.
There are some important exceptions:
The Washington Free Beacon first reported that it obtained a copy of the “One Flag Policy” order, which permits only the American flag to be flown at U.S. facilities at home and abroad, with two notable exceptions: the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) emblem and the Wrongful Detainees Flag.
“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 memo states, according to the outlet. “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.”
Trump’s State Department implemented a “One Flag Policy” policy barring government facilities and embassies from flying any other flag but the American Flag.
The international embarrassment is over. pic.twitter.com/oWB0ZuH0kC
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 22, 2025
Trump was just inaugurated on Monday, but already he and his administration have fundamentally changed how things are going to operate from the border to the embassies and more.
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Both Biden and Obama before him were big fans of flying the virtue-signaling flags:
The policy comes after the Biden administration courted controversy over the last four years over flying such flags, igniting lengthy debates between Democrats and Republicans.
Former President Joe Biden caught flack for flying the Pride flag outside the White House during a Pride Month celebration in 2023, and in 2021 for a leaked State Department memo that encouraged U.S. embassies to display Black Lives Matter flags on the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder.
President Trump’s State Department BANS PRIDE and BLM flags at embassies and outposts.
Fly ONLY the STARS AND STRIPES.
This is winning! pic.twitter.com/OkepTUBo5C
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) January 22, 2025
The State Department outlines their mission on their website:
To protect and promote U.S. security, prosperity, and democratic values and shape an international environment in which all Americans can thrive.
I don’t know how flying BLM flags in honor of George Floyd shapes “an international environment in which all Americans can thrive,” nor do I see how putting up Pride flags around the world promotes “U.S. security, prosperity, and democratic values.”
The message from the president and his newly-installed Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is: stop goofing around with all this woke stuff and get back to doing the actual work of statesmanship and strengthening America.
