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By Sophie Clark
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Local leaders in several Republican-led states are pushing back against bans on pride flags being hung from government buildings by creating legal loopholes to allow for LGBTQ+ displays.
From city halls to public monuments, these acts of defiance come in the face of increasingly common legislative efforts to limit or ban pride flag displays on government property.
While some states have codified such bans, citing neutrality or uniform flag policies, cities like Missoula, Salt Lake City, and Boise have found legal or procedural workarounds to continue public expressions of support for LGBTQ+ communities.
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Human Rights Campaign Senior Director of Legal Policy, Cathryn Oakley, told Newsweek: "It has never been more important for everyone—especially local governments, and especially in states that are overtly hostile to equality—to share their support for LGBTQ+ people."
Zach Eisenstein, the director of communications at The Trevor Project, told Newsweek: "The Trevor Project's most recent national survey listed 'having or displaying Pride flags' as one of the top ten ways in which people can best show their support and acceptance for LGBTQ+ youth, according to the young people themselves. Pride flags can be a simple but effective way to signal a welcoming space—not just for LGBTQ+ people, but for everyone."
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Why It Matters
Pride flags exist to both celebrate and show acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. Over the past few months, several Republican-controlled state legislatures have banned them from being flown from state buildings, but small pockets of local officials have been pushing back against the bans.
This comes as the Trump administration has issued several executive orders and policy changes within executive governments targeting gay rights and transgender people, including officially defining sex and gender as biological, limiting access to gender-affirming care for young people, and planning to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, named after the gay rights campaigner.
What To Know
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Missoula, Montana
Pride flags are banned from government offices in Montana due to House Bill 819, which prohibits all flags that "represent a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender or political ideology."
However, the Missoula City Council notes that the bill allows for "official historical flags of the United States." On June 3, they voted 9-2 to classify pride flags as an official historical flag of the city, meaning they can be flown from all municipal buildings.
Leah Ore, who runs the political action group Missoula Resists, was quoted by Montana Public Radio as saying: "Having a symbol like a pride flag shows them that they are safe, they are loved, and if they are feeling scared or they need extra help, they know who they can go to. I say Pride is suicide prevention. Our pride flags are suicide prevention."
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, however, said the city council "should be ashamed" of their action.
Montana State Representative for Missoula, Melody Cunningham, told Newsweek: "I am incredibly proud that Missoula voted to make the Pride flag our official municipal flag, and far from 'ashamed' as the governor suggested we should be."
Salt Lake City, Utah
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Utah issued a similar ban on "non-government" flags flying from government buildings in February 2025. The bill calls for a $500 fine on state and local governments that fly any flag other than the U.S. flag, the state flag, a city or county flag, military flags, Olympic and Paralympic flags, official college flags or tribal flags.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall spearheaded a campaign to impose the city's official flag design of a sego lily onto flags, including pride, transgender, and Juneteenth colors.
This motion passed with unanimous consent from the city council, allowing Salt Lake City to fly flags with the Pride colors as official city flags.
Mendenhall told The Guardian: "We are not violating the order. We've made it a part of our official government identity."
Boise, Idaho
The city council of Boise, Idaho, took a similar approach to Missoula and Salt Lake City officials, voting 5-1 in favor of a proclamation made by Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, which designated the pride flag, which has flown above City Hall for several years, as an official city flag.
This vote occurred after Idaho Governor Brad Little signed House Bill 96 in April 2025, which banned flags other than the U.S. flag, flags of Idaho colleges, state flags, universities and public schools, and the official flags of military branches.
Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador wrote in a letter to Mayor McClean: "Governmental officials may hold personal beliefs that would be represented on flags with other messages such as 'Make America Great Again' or 'Don't Tread on Me,' but, after passage of House Bill 96, flying such flags by government entities is against the law. What if citizens of Boise acted as you have by refusing to follow the municipal laws with which they disagree…based on the same logic? How do you ensure your citizens' respect for the rule of law if you are not following the law yourself?"
Council member Meredith Stead told The Guardian: "Removing the flag now after years of flying it proudly would not be a neutral act. It would signal a retreat from values we've long upheld and send a disheartening message to those who have found affirmation and belonging through its presence at city hall."
Jacksonville, Florida
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' Department of Transportation banned cities across the state from lighting up their bridges in any colors other than red, white, and blue. The ban was introduced in 2024, when cities were forbidden from lighting up their bridges with rainbows for Pride, red for Sickle Cell Awareness, and/or orange for gun safety awareness.
DeSantis also introduced an executive order in 2023 banning non-official flags from government buildings. In defiance of that ban, LGBTQ+ campaigners lit up the Acosta Bridge in Jacksonville with rainbow colors on Sunday, June 1.
What People Are Saying
Montana State Representative Melody Cunningham told Newsweek: "I am hoping that the vote to make the Pride flag our municipal flag will once again allow teachers and others to display this flag and help all students to understand that "freedom of speech" is a fundamental American right that cannot be "tread upon." I also hope that it reminds students of ALL marginalized groups that they belong and are welcomed in Missoula.
"We know, as was presented in the Missoula City Council Meeting, that the rate of suicide is far higher in the LGBTQAI2S+ group and this stems from the bullying and ostracization that happens to members of this group. When one group is allowed to be bullied and disregarded, it translates to other groups, one of which was brought forth by a member of City Council."
Director of Communications at The Trevor Project, Zach Eisenstein, told Newsweek: "It is difficult to see some lawmakers prioritize writing and passing legislation that makes a symbol of acceptance illegal, out of all the other issues they could act on. Efforts to ban pride flags accomplish nothing aside from attempting to tell a group of already marginalized people, 'you don't belong here.'"
Human Rights Campaign Senior Director of Legal Policy, Cathryn Oakley, told Newsweek: "Flags are a declaration of acceptance, and LGBTQ+ pride is all about showing defiance of oppression by displaying acceptance and love across differences. Pride flags are important symbols for the LGBTQ+ people, including youth, who are constantly receiving messages of being less-than and are scared about the future. It is meaningful that these cities are willing to take a risk to show their support for our community."
A Missoula community member told KPAX: "Never been prouder to say that I'm in Missoula. The action was quick. It was devastating to hear that colleagues were being told to take their pride flags down. And I was feeling a moment of serious despair and, how quickly we all organized."
Council member Sandra Vasek, who voted against the Missoula resolution, was quoted by Montana Public Radio as saying: "It does choose sides, and we do need to remain neutral as a local governing body."
Idaho Representative Ted Hill, a Republican who sponsored House Bill 96, said: "The best way to do it is to get rid of everything. So the only thing you have in the classroom is the American flag, the state flag. And people will say inclusivity and all this. Well, the American flag is as inclusive as it can get."
Amy Glassman, an organizer of the event in Jacksonville, told Jacksonville.com: "As I have said millions of times before and will continue to say — lights or no lights, there will always be rainbow colors on the Acosta Bridge."
Florida State Senator Randy Fine said of the bill to effectively ban displaying pride flags:"The idea here is that the government should not be in the political message business."
What Happens Next
Residents in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Madison, Wisconsin, both states that voted for Donald Trump in 2024, attended pride flag-raising ceremonies in their cities.
In Cincinnati, a cheering crowd collected at the courthouse to see the pride flag flown.
Democratic Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said, "Cincy Pride is one of those times when the Queen City gets to really show off who we are."
Similarly, the Democratic mayor of Madison, Satya Rhodes-Conway, said: "It matters that we communicate to all…that here we respect people's rights."
These community events and continued defiance of pride flag bans show resistance to efforts to diminish LGBTQ+ visibility in the United States.
Update 6/6/25, 12:37 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Montana State Representative Melody Cunningham.
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