In January 2023 in Pennsylvania, as Ian Kumamoto wrote ("These School Bans On Pride Flags Should Freak All Of Us Out", HuffPost Voices):
"...the Central Bucks school board, which oversees the third-largest school district in Pennsylvania, exemplified this idea by banning teachers from displaying rainbow flags as part of a larger effort to stop educators from advocating for 'political' issues.
The Central Bucks school board is just the latest group to frame LGBTQ-plus people as polarizing political subjects, rather than actual people just trying to live. In the past year, districts in Wisconsin, Michigan and New York have all cracked down on pride flags in schools, typically citing the belief that they are political in nature."
In January 2023, Chaya Raichik was harassing a school in Colorado because it was selling Pride flags.
By the way (Ian Kumamoto, HuffPost, January 13, 2023, thanks much):
"Unlike a political organization, there is no central LGBTQ organ, headquarters or single representative whom LGBTQ people take orders from (except maybe Cher). For these reasons and many others, the designation of pride flags as political symbols doesn’t make much sense. The argument is yet another pretense to pathologize and exclude queer and trans people and to galvanize voters against a common enemy."
In October 2023, Raichik threatened to sue the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) if it didn't remove her name from their Glossary of Extremism, and so the ADL...removed her, as she requested. As reported by The Advocate.
Florida, 2024
In January 2024, Florida Republican lawmakers advanced HB 901, co-sponsored by State Rep. David Borrero (R), that (as HuffPost explained) "would bar the display of any flag that represents a 'political viewpoint, including, but not limited to, a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint.'" This "would ban teachers and government officials" (though not explicitly students) "from displaying pride flags and those that champion the Black Lives Matter movement." Additionally, "flags of sovereign states recognized by the United States" are OK, while, according to Borrero, "the flag of Palestine, which is not recognized by the U.S., would not be allowed, he told the AP. Teachers would also not even be allowed to wear a lapel pin bearing such flags."
U.S. federal government, 2024
While trying to pass a spending bill, Democrats managed to eliminate about 50 anti-LGBTQ provisions but did not manage to eliminate one that prevents U.S. embassies from flying the Pride flag. The Republicans insisted on that one.
Alberta, Canada, 2024
"Alberta town bans Pride flags, rainbow crosswalks after plebiscite": Residents voted in favour of the town flying only government flags and painting crosswalks in a white striped pattern. Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press, in the National Post, Feb 23, 2024
Read more
See also: "Why a Homophobe Displays a Rainbow Flag". It's a 4-minute read on Medium.
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