No Rainbow Diplomacy: U.S. Embassies Reject Pride This June

For the second year running, American embassies around the world won’t be marking so-called “Pride Month” with rainbow flags or any kind of related programming, and this time, there’s a formal directive to back it up.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an internal memo instructing State Department personnel to refrain from conducting or participating in any public diplomacy events tied to calendar observances that have not been designated as official U.S. holidays or recognized through a presidential proclamation.

The memo, reviewed by The Daily Wire, reinforces the administration’s broader “One Flag Policy” that was put in place at the start of 2025 which restricts the flags permitted to fly at American diplomatic facilities worldwide to the U.S. flag, the POW/MIA flag, and the Hostages and Wrongful Detainees flag.

The reasoning behind that policy was straightforward in stating that the American flag “unites all Americans under the universal principles of justice, liberty, and democracy,” values described as the shared bedrock of the nation, belonging to every citizen regardless of background.

The contrast with the previous administration could hardly be sharper. Under President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave U.S. embassies broad written authorization to display the “Pride” flag on their external flagpoles for the duration of the “Pride” season.

By 2022, nearly 100 American embassies in countries around the world were acknowledging or celebrating “Pride Month” in some form, with close to 30 flying the “Pride” or “Progress Pride” flag including the embassy near the Vatican.

This approach drew diplomatic friction in at least one case, when Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry formally summoned an American diplomat to object to social media posts it said violated the country’s laws and regulations.

That era of embassy rainbow diplomacy was part of what the Biden administration openly described as a whole-of-government push to advance LGBT+ priorities at home and abroad. Presidential proclamations celebrated “Pride Month” in sweeping terms, and executive orders directed every federal agency to embed “equity” initiatives, defined to include LGBT individuals, into their operations. More than 200 “Pride” parade appearances by administration officials were logged in June 2024 alone.

The current administration has taken an entirely different posture, thank God.

President Trump issued no “Pride Month” proclamation in 2025, and hasn’t issued one this year either. When a reporter asked whether the White House would be observing “Pride Month” this June, a spokesperson offered a simple reply: “We celebrate all Americans every day.”

That response captures something of the shift underway, it’s not a targeted campaign against any group, but a return to a vision of American identity that doesn’t segment citizens by identity categories for special government recognition.

For many believers who have watched with concern as the machinery of U.S. foreign policy was turned toward promoting a particular social ideology overseas, the change in direction is a welcome one because the flag flying over American embassies this month will be the one that has always represented the nation, all of it, to the world.

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