35 Comments
User's avatar
Melissa's avatar

This is exactly why authoritarian/fascist regimes go after the artists first. Art is revolutionary and always finds a way through. Our joyful resistance is creative and fertile!!

Jendi's avatar

Yeah, don't go head to head with us gays on aesthetics, you will lose!

Yasha's avatar

Lol passive compliance coupled with clever resistance. I love it.

Shirley Gauthier she/her's avatar

I will be using your quote and giving you credit for it. "Passive compliance coupled with clever resistance."

Yasha's avatar

Oh you are most welcome to it! Thank you for the heads up.

Joanne's avatar

Small acts of civil disobedience can serve as the catalyst for change and mean so much to those for whom the act is performed. Thank you to the folks in Boise who were willing to do this in spite of whatever law enforcement harassments they might have to endure if caught in the act.

Sarah F's avatar

Thank you, Boise! I needed to read this today. This is a gentle reminder to us all that no place is a monolith, and love can be found in any color of state.

Mike Gelt's avatar

Idaho Republicans keep pushing bills like SB1362, SB96, and SB561 targeting the LGBTQ+ community—but Boise found a way to stand firm without breaking the law.

By taking down the Pride flag only to comply, and then creating a designated Pride flag pole, the city made it clear: inclusion isn’t optional, and support won’t be silenced.

That’s what smart, principled leadership looks like—working within constraints while refusing to abandon your community.

Boise deserves real credit for standing up and showing others how it’s done.

Talia Perkins's avatar

Thank you Baum.

Hearing about this FU to the Idaho Social Conservatives is just neat.

Jane Valerie's avatar

I live for the fact that despite all of their obsession and hate, bigots will never get rid of us and they have to die frothing at the mouth over that fact.

Love to see these acts of resistance ❤️

Kate's avatar

Thank you, Boise! Keep fighting the repression!

Sterling's avatar

This makes me feel a bit better about my trip to the Boise area next week.

Shirley Gauthier she/her's avatar

It makes me want to travel to Boise and spend some money.

Laura Davis's avatar

I am sure you have a good reason, but do be alert and proud. Safe travels.

Letters From a Trans-American's avatar

Thanks for this report, S. Baum

I suspect that most Americans find conservatives' obsession with rainbows and other colorful things quite strange and petty. Most folks know that a rainbow is an extraordinary natural phenomenon that is also incredibly beautiful. Human-made versions are also very beautiful. What's not to love? So, let's keep putting up rainbows where ever we can, especially in Red states. If republicans want to be the party of no fun and purveyors of monochrome living, so be ir. They can try to force the rest of us to be boring and ugly. But it ain't gonna happen!

Don Jackson's avatar

Awesomeness!! Thanks for the reporting! ❤️🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Susan Tuzzolino's avatar

Brilliant and Beautiful Resistance! Thanks S. Baum, my coffee tastes better this morinng!

Liz  Wilcox's avatar

Makes you wonder how much time and $$$ the rethuglicans have wasted on these uneducated bills.

Thank you, Boise!!

Ruxine's avatar

Anyone who calls the pride flag divisive is inherently professing their bigotry. It represents real people and our love for oursselves and eachother, and to hate on that is the divisive act.

Freddie Baudat's avatar

Who came up with the rainbow for pride? Was it an offshoot of Jesse Jackson’s coalition? However it came about, it’s turning out to be perfect. “Mommy, didn’t God create rainbows?”

Larry Erickson's avatar

Design of the pride flag, by all accounts, was the work of San Francisco artist and gay rights activist Gilbert Baker. His original version, from 1978, had eight stripes in different colors and the flag went through a couple of revisions until the now-standard one with six.

Although the Rainbow Coalition itself predates the flag, Jesse Jackson's National Rainbow Coalition postdates it. Baker said the use of colors was inspired by the hippie movement of the '60s and suggested it was inspired to some degree by the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow."

Oh, and to answer more directly, use of a rainbow in symbolism is ancient.

Joan the Dork's avatar

Nothing makes me giggle quite like a bit of malicious compliance. A fine bunch of rules lawyers, these folks in Boise! Keep sticking it to those fascist fucks until their only recourse is blanket-banning 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘴.