The move overturns the Trump administration’s effective ban on Pride flags.
U.S. missions overseas can once again fly the LGBT Pride flag on their official flagpoles, according to an internal State Department cable obtained Friday by ABC News.
The policy, announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, repeals his predecessor Mike Pompeo’s effective ban on Pride flags or others from flying at U.S. embassies and consulates.
Posts are given “blanket written authorization … to display the Pride flag on the external-facing flagpole, for the duration of the 2021 Pride season,” said the cable, which was first reported by Foreign Policy magazine. “This is an authorization, not a requirement.”
Under Pompeo, a conservative Republican, posts were barred from flying any flag other than the U.S. flag on official flagpoles and had to seek permission to fly the Pride flag, which was denied to several embassies.