No Pride flags allowed: Idaho proposal would ban many displays in public school classrooms

Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman on Jan 14, 2025

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BOISE, Idaho — Many flags for ideological causes would be banned in public schools under a proposed Idaho law, in addition to those for LGBTQ+ Pride and political parties.

Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, introduced House Bill 10 on Tuesday to ban most flags in state-funded public classrooms.

Teachers could still display the U.S. flag, state flags, flags of many foreign countries and some others, according to a list of more than a dozen examples included in the bill. But it would prohibit any that “represent a political viewpoint, including but not limited to flags or banners regarding a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender, or a political ideology.”

An identical version of the bill failed to make it through the Legislature last year. It passed in the Senate but was held in the House Education Committee.

Debate over last year’s bill largely centered around LGBTQ+ Pride flags. Sponsor Sen. Chris Trakel, R-Caldwell, who lost his reelection bid, told lawmakers that his daughter’s religious beliefs made her “extremely uncomfortable” with such flags.

“Somebody could take offense to the LGBTQ flag, and they might. Somebody of a religious origin would find that offensive to them and they have to sit in the classroom and be offended the entire time,” he told a Senate committee last year, according to prior Idaho Statesman reporting. “The whole point of this isn’t to discriminate against anybody. (It) is to make this a neutral environment conducive to education and learning.”

A number of teachers, as well as the state teachers union, raised concerns that the bill was largely an effort to prohibit support in classrooms for LGBTQ+ students.