President Donald Trump‘s new U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins on Wednesday wrote a memo to the agency’s under secretaries, assistant secretaries, and other key officials, titled “Public Display or Depiction of Flags throughout Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Facilities.”
With the memo (below), Collins wrote: “Made some changes to simplify the flag display policy across the department, which now has a singular focus: serving the needs of Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.”
Made some changes to simplify the flag display policy across the department, which now has a singular focus: serving the needs of Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors. pic.twitter.com/fVaniPFd1a
— VA Secretary Doug Collins (@SecVetAffairs) February 12, 2025
The memo lists the kinds of flags that are allowed to be on public display in “VA facilities, workplaces, buildings, commons areas, and public areas, including but not limited to: individual offices, cubicles, government vehicles, office buildings, recreational areas, medical centers, storage rooms, kitchens, and restrooms.”
The memo also notes that the former Secretary’s ‘Flying the Flag During Pride Month Memorandum’ (dated May 24, 2024) has been rescinded. (Denis McDonough was Secretary of Veterans Affairs during the Biden administration.)
While the X account Gays for Trump (which identifies itself as LGB Without The TQIA+) and uses an icon of Trump with a rainbow flag draped over his shoulders as its profile photo on X) replied “Good change!,” not everyone agrees, including veterans.
Note: In 2023, there were 15.8 million veterans in the U.S., including an estimated 1 million veterans who “identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer,” according to the veterans advocacy group DAV.
Good change!
— Gays For Trump (@GaysForTrump24) February 13, 2025
One U.S. Naval Academy grad and veteran of Operation Desert Shield (USS Kirk, FF 1087) replied to Collins: “The American flag represents me best, but the appearance of Pride flags at VA facilities reminds me that I am welcome, and that the staff care about me. In the 1980s at the @NavalAcademy hatred of LGBT midshipmen was rife. Horrific. Permanently damaging. You enable HATE.”
The American flag represents me best, but the appearance of Pride flags at VA facilities reminds me that I am welcome, and that the staff care about me.
— Naval Academy Transcendor 🏳️🌈🇺🇸 (@JeffPetrie5) February 15, 2025
In the 1980s at the @NavalAcademy hatred of LGBT midshipmen was rife. Horrific. Permanently damaging.
You enable HATE. 🤬🇺🇸
Other recipients of VA benefits are responding with less interest in flags and more concern about the delays they face, as one replied: “Glad that makes you feel better, but we’re still waiting 6 months for an appointment.” Another wrote: “How about you fix VES and their delays instead of worrying about flags.”
Note: On Friday, Collins announced that the agency dismissed more than 1,000 employees and said the “tough decision” will “enable VA to redirect over $98 million annually to health care, benefits and services for VA beneficiaries.”
Collins did not elaborate on how the redirect will be implemented with a significantly smaller staff. There are also currently 43,000 probationary employees across the department, notable because probationary employees on the federal payroll have been targeted by DOGE for mass layoffs.
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