St. Luke’s, Idaho’s largest health system, will no longer be flying pride flags at its medical centers during Pride month.
The hospital started displaying the flags for Pride in June 2022 to raise awareness of health disparities among marginalized groups, including the LGBTQ community.
Earlier this week, in an internal memo addressed to Senior Leaders and released by the Idaho Family Policy Center, a conservative christian lobbying group, St. Luke’s told staff members it would not put up rainbow colored banners this year.
“In recent months, local efforts to raise the Inclusive Progress Pride flag have become increasingly contentious for some,” the memo reads. “This has diverted focus to public debates about the flag rather than our original intent to signal that St. Luke's is a welcoming environment for all.”
In May, the City of Boise drew national attention for adopting the Pride flag as one of its official city flags, circumventing state law.
In an email to Boise State Public Radio, a representative for St. Luke’s said the decision to change their policy this year was difficult and “likely disappointing for many,” adding they were exploring “alternative displays and possibilities with [their] team members.”
The original decision to put Inclusive Pride flags up for Pride month, the St. Luke’s memo reads, was part of an effort to signal that everyone is welcomed at their facilities.
“This gesture was part of our ongoing efforts to foster a sense of belonging among team members and community members,” the hospital wrote.
The Inclusive Pride Flag adds to the traditional rainbow colors by including black and brown stripes to represent LGBTQ members of color, pink, white and blue stripes to represent transgender people and a purple circle over a yellow background to represent intersex members of the community.
In June 2024, the Idaho Family Policy Center launched an email campaign requesting St. Luke’s stop displaying Pride flags.
On Thursday, it called the hospital’s decision to discontinue the practice a major victory. The web platform used by the center to prompt people into emailing the hospital shows that at the time, more than a thousand submitted a standardized message to St. Luke’s. It’s unclear if that email campaign played any role in the flag policy change this year.
On Thursday, the IFPC again urged their listserv to email the hospital to “stop pushing woke medical care.” It also called upon the public to demand St. Luke’s stop sponsoring pride events.
Studies show that members of the LGBTQ+ community, who endure lifelong and systemic discrimination, face significantly worse health outcomes than their heterosexual and cisgender peers.
In a social media post from June of 2024, St. Luke’s Health System wrote that displaying the Inclusive Pride flag at locations across its centers was a visible way to demonstrate their commitment as a trusted healthcare organization for “every person.”
“St. Luke's mission is to improve the health of all people in the communities we serve,” they wrote last year. “To that end, we have a responsibility to demonstrate ways in which we can be inclusive and welcoming.”
