On Tuesday, May 6, a crowd of Boise residents gathered outside Boise City Hall ahead of the City Council’s vote on recognizing the Pride flag as an official city flag.
The proposed resolution comes after House Bill 96, a bill that only allows government entities to display certain flags, such as the United States flag and military flags, which was passed on April 3, 2025.
The Boise City Council passed the resolution with a 5-1 vote, adopting the Pride flag as one of the city’s three official flags.
Mayor Lauren McLean began the meeting with a request for silence from the audience while the council members deliberated.
“On April 28, I signed an official proclamation that retroactively established three flags as official Boise flags,” McLean said, moments before the council voted. “The blue flag, the one we love with the monochrome image and the words ‘Boise City of Trees’, the rainbow flag commonly referred to as the pride flag — the flag that represents and gives voice to the fact that we are a welcoming city and a flag honoring national ‘donate life month’”.
McLean noted that the proclamation will allow the Pride flag to fly in front of Boise City Hall.
“The proclamation has the legal effect of making the flags comply with HB96 and I’d say this — we are changing the system, because we must,” McLean said. “Because in order for us to continue to use the story and remind us as a city who we are, and to give voice to those values, we must change the system.”
Council President Colin Nash shared a personal anecdote regarding his mental health struggles and gave voice to the feelings of isolation and lack of support he says members of the LGBTQ+ community sometimes feel.
“Someone will see that [Pride flag] and I hope, just once, that … someone will see that and know that they are not alone,” Nash said. “That there are people here that will support them, wrap their arms around them and let them know that choosing to live and choosing to live authentically is something that you can do in the city of Boise every day.”
Nash continued by stating what the Pride flag means to him.
“We’re in a fight against erasure,” Nash said. “Whether it’s clawing back civil rights progress, whether it’s just even acknowledging the existence of gay and trans people in public society, and the city of Boise is not going to be a party to that erasure, and that’s what the pride flag represents to me, and it’s why I’ve sponsored this resolution to memorialize it today.”
Council Member Jimmy Hallyburton shared several stories regarding the Pride flag in Boise.
The first story involved a local business owner who was initially apprehensive to move their family to Boise, but after seeing the streets of Harrison Boulevard lined with Pride flags, they made the decision to move.
Hallyburton said he realized two things during the task force meeting where the individual shared this story: a city that is unwelcoming results in an economic decline, and that Boise had the ability to become “a beacon of hope”.
Luci Willits was the only Council Member in opposition to the resolution. Willits expressed concern about potential financial repercussions from the Idaho legislature for establishing the flags’ official status.
“I know that people who identify with this flag want to be seen, I know that. I want you to know that I see you, even if I disagree with having this be an official flag,” Willits said.
Downtown locals showed their support for the LGBTQ+ community by honking their horns and giving a thumbs up to attendees as they drove by.
Many people in the crowd carried signs expressing love for the community and for Mayor McLean before the meeting.
This support came after McLean proposed the resolution in response to a letter she received from Attorney General Raúl Labrador, calling on McLean to follow the recent House bill.
“It really felt nice to have someone in your corner as a queer person,” attendee Veronica Porter said. “Having [Mayor McLean] push back and find loopholes around some of the legislation really felt encouraging.”
Porter also mentioned the meaning of their sign, which read: “this isn’t about a flag”, with a purple inverted triangle. Porter said that the sign reflects their views on the broader implications of U.S. policies, comparing it to the political climate of Germany in the 1930s.
“It’s very dangerous when certain rights are being stripped away from different demographics slowly but kind of quickly,” Porter said. “They’re only impacting certain demographics, so if we don’t unite and stand together, eventually we’re going to be slivered away.”
Following the Boise City Council’s decision, several dozen locals gathered outside City Hall in counter-protest, some dressed in black and carrying American flags as they voiced their opposition for the resolution.
One of the counter-protestors, a local resident named Scott, who declined to share his last name with The Arbiter, said he views the resolution as a “virtue signal” from Mayor McLean.
“[McLean is] not listening to her constituents,” Scott said. “She’s not listening to the people, she’s basically trying to virtue signal and let everybody know that this is her agenda and how she feels.”
Scott was in attendance for the City Council meeting and voiced opposition to governmental entities displaying flags that he said only represent a “small portion” of the Idaho community.
“A government building shouldn’t fly anything other than the state flag, the city flag and the American flag,” Scott said. “I would love to see the heterosexual flag up there, or maybe the Christian flag, but it doesn’t need to be there.”
After the City Council meeting, Kierra Tomlinson, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, shared why it was important for her to come out and support the community and Mayor McLean.
“Representation is so important. Anyone who feels marginalized or who doesn’t see themselves out there, when they see that [community], they’re like ‘I am welcome here. My people are here and I deserve to be here,” Tomlinson said.
The Pride flag will continue to fly in front of Boise’s City Hall as it has for the past decade. Although the Idaho legislature has not sought legal action at this time, local attorneys from Holland & Hart LLP have volunteered to represent Boise pro bono.
