Feb. 13 (UPI) — LGBTQ pride flags are banned at Veteran’s Administration facilities, according to a Wednesday memo posted by VA Secretary Douglas Collins.
The memo said, “This guidance rescinds the Secretary’s Flying The Flag During Pride Month Memorandum, dated May 24, 2024 …”
The pride flag was the only flag singled out for banning found in the memo.
The ban includes “public displays” or “depictions of flags by VA employees including but not limited to individual offices, cubicles, government vehicles, office buildings, recreational areas, medical centers, storage rooms, kitchens and restrooms.
According to the memo, the pride flag ban includes “all spaces or items in public or plain view outside of a VA facility.”
According to the memo, “All veterans and VA beneficiaries will always be welcome at all VA facilities to receive the benefits and services they have earned under the law.” However, the new rules don’t address veterans seeking VA services while wearing gay-pride imagery.
Republican members of Congress were unsuccessful in recent years at prohibiting LGBTQ pride flags at VA locations, but Trump’s VA has now barred the flags.
The memo does not ban pride flags at veteran’s graves overseen by the National Cemetery Administration.
The memo outlines the flags that have been deemed acceptable. They include U.S. state and territories flags, military service flags, VA flags, official branded flags if U.S. agencies are presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed flags, prisoner of war/missing in action flags, Senior Executive Service and Military Department-specific SES flags, ceremonial, command, unit, or branch flags and burial flags to honor a veteran or reservist.