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June 9, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. Department of Defense announced last week that it will keep a policy enacted under President Donald Trump banning LGBT “pride” flags at U.S. military bases. 

“After some careful consideration, the department will maintain the existing policy from July of 2020 regarding the display or depiction of unofficial flags,” department spokesman John Kirby said Friday. “There won’t be an exception made this month for the Pride flag.” 

Guidance on flags authorized last year by then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper was meant to prohibit the Confederate flag, though it also applies to other symbols, including homosexual “pride” flags. 

The Pentagon will maintain the Trump-era policy due to “concern about other challenges,” Kirby said. The move was not intended to reflect “any lack of respect or admiration” for “the LGBTQ+ community,” he assured the press.  

The Biden administration’s State Department, by contrast, employs much looser guidance, with U.S. embassies hoisting the “pride” flag across the world this month, including at the Holy See, with approval from Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.  

Blinken also has granted embassies “blanket written authorization for calendar 2021” to fly the “Black Lives Matter” flag, as several have done already.   

It remains unclear whether Joe Biden will challenge the Defense Department’s decision. While a candidate for president, Biden promised that he would allow “pride” flags at military facilities. “Banning the LGBTQ Pride flag — the very symbol of diversity and inclusion — is undeniably wrong,” he said last July. “The Pentagon should ensure it is authorized, or as President, I will.”