Idaho Banned The Pride Flag. So Boise Wrapped the Flagpoles Themselves In Pride Colors.

As public acknowledgements of LGBTQ life come under attack, local governments and citizen activists alike are fighting back in bold and creative ways.

CBS2 Boise

Try as they might, the Idaho state legislature can’t seem to silence Boise’s LGBTQ Pride.

Idaho Republicans have spent years crafting bills and passing laws trying to lower the rainbow flags flown in public schools, government-owned buildings, roads, and parks. The latest attempt got as far as compelling Boise Mayor Lauren McLean to remove City Hall’s Pride flag on March 31—the Trans Day of Visibility. The flag had billowed above the building as a symbol of acceptance and inclusion for over a decade.

Nevertheless, Boise persisted. With a flag ban in place covering just about any inch of state-owned properties, officials got crafty. Instead of Pride flags, they installed Pride flagpoles.

CBS 2 Boise Flag Poles

“The art additions to city hall demonstrate our unwavering commitment to the people that call Boise home and to the values that we uphold every day,” the city said in a statement to CBS 2 - Idaho News.

The saga over Idaho Pride flags arguably erupted during the 2024 legislative session, when the GOP introduced Senate Bill 1362, an “emergency” provision to limit “political” flags in schools. It characterized Pride flags as a bid to promote “ideology” about gender and sexuality. Thankfully, that proposal died in the House.

Then, in March 2025, Idaho House Republicans successfully rushed House Bill 96 into law. This policy restricted any flag displayed on government-owned property to a select, pre-approved few categories, including the United States flag, of course, as well as “the official flag of a governmental entity.”

It was widely understood that its primary target was Pride flags, even as bill supporters argued publicly that it was about government neutrality.

“The ultimate goal is for us to fly flags that unite and don’t divide,” said Republican State Senator Ben Toews, as per The Idaho Statesman.

Naturally, Boise then adopted the Pride flag as an official “government entity” symbol, making it fair game to continue flying over City Hall.

Conservatives were outraged. “That’s lawless, insubordinate, and intolerable,” said Representative Ted Hill, the Republican who sponsored several anti-Pride flag bills, according to Boise State Public Radio.

This year, Republicans went for a flag ban yet again with the passage of HB 561. This new provision further restricts permissible displays so that it could only include “entity” flags “established prior to January 1, 2023.” Furthermore, it explicitly expanded the restriction’s domain to any “land owned and maintained by the governmental entity, including buildings, adjoining land, parks, roads, and boulevards.”

That’s where the Boise flagpoles come in. If the city couldn’t fly the flag, they’d do the next best thing.

Now, gay and trans flag stripes are permanently wrapped around the metal poles outside Boise City Hall, and behind them, draped from the windows, is a new banner, too.

“City of Boise,” the sign reads, embellished with rainbow hues. “Creating a city for everyone.”

But the battle continues. In Utah, Pride flag bans have been repeatedly tightened to prevent locals from bypassing loopholes. Other forms of Pride displays have come under fire, too. The LGBTQ community has had to get bold and creative amidst state repression.

In Orlando, this looked like filling in rainbow crosswalks with chalk after the state stripped them of their colors. Also in Florida, a beloved bridge lighting ceremony went rogue, using flashlights to create a renegade rainbow in defiance of Governor Ron DeSantis’s anti-LGBTQ crackdowns.

Meanwhile, in Hungary, totalitarian leader Viktor Orbán—who has cultivated close ties with American conservatives—ushered in a ban on gay Pride parades, which was resisted through “gray Pride” demonstrations.

This was in addition to the Hungarians who simply refused to comply with anti-LGBTQ censorship altogether, gathering at Budapest Pride by the thousands, rainbows and all.

Back in Boise, the small but courageous flagpole gesture was felt earnestly. One Idahoan who stopped to admire the new display expressed just how important it was to see the city fighting back.

“I feel loved,” he told local news. “I feel accepted by the people that matter. I feel hope.”