Some U.S. embassies in the past have hoisted flags showing support for the LGBT and Black Lives Matter movements.
The State Department has directed embassies to fly no flags other than the U.S. flag, according to a cable obtained by The Epoch Times.
The cable from Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that “only the United States of America flag is authorized to be flown or otherwise publicly displayed at U.S. facilities, both domestic and abroad, and featured in U.S. government content.” It says that “no symbol or affiliation marking other than those authorized by U.S. statute, the President, or the Secretary may be displayed, projected, or exhibited at any U.S. facility, both domestic and abroad.”
Rubio wrote that “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 sole exceptions are for the flag marking prisoners of war and troops missing in action, and the flag for hostages, the State Department said.
The cable cited a 2024 funding bill approved by Congress that said none of the funds appropriated for the department were to be used to display flags outside department facilities other than a U.S. flag, a Foreign Service flag, the prisoner of war and hostage flags, the flag of a state, the flag of an Indian Tribal government, or a flag of another country.
Asked if there have been any adjustments to the policy since then, a State Department spokesperson in an April 9 email to The Epoch Times referred policy questions to the White House, which did not return a request for comment by publication time.
The State Department also declined to say whether any personnel have violated the policy.
“We do not comment on internal personnel matters,” the spokesperson said.
President Donald Trump has signed a number of executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including a March 18 order directing Rubio to remove DEI as a core precept for Foreign Service tenure and promotions.
Under former President Joe Biden, State Department facilities regularly flew non-U.S. flags, including a rainbow flag that shows support for the LGBT movement.
“The U.S. government and the U.S. Embassy reaffirm the human rights and fundamental freedoms of LGBTQI+ persons,” the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, Bahamas, said in 2021 when raising the flag for “Pride Month.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken that year also gave permission to embassies to fly flags in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
