New Idaho law forbids Boise from flying LGBTQ+ Pride flag. But it’s still up

BOISE – Idaho Gov. Brad Little on April 3 signed a law banning government entities, including cities, from flying non-“official” flags on their property.

In lawmakers’ debates over the bill, supporters shared pictures of the LGBTQ+ Pride flag outside Boise’s City Hall as an example of the flags they hoped the law would bring down.

But on Friday, over a week after the law took effect, the Pride flag outside Boise’s City Hall remained.

“We will continue to fly the existing flags on city property,” Maria Ortega, a spokesperson for the city, told the Idaho Statesman Thursday. She did not respond to a question about whether the city knew that doing so was breaking the law.

The flag “temporarily” came down Thursday morning, Ortega said, but was back up later in the afternoon. She did not say why it was taken down, though she said it was not connected to one Idaho resident’s confrontation with city employees about it.

The new law, sponsored by Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, restricts flags at government sites to the U.S. flag, state flags, military flags, the prisoner-of-war flag, tribal flags, Idaho university flags, local governments’ own flags, and the flags of foreign countries for special commemorations.

“We don’t want government to be promoting division or political ideology or any social movements,” Scott said during debate over the bill on the House floor.

The law does not contain any provision for enforcement.