This month, I have found myself grappling with a complicated question: Is it appropriate for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to display Pride flags? It’s a thought that has occupied my mind for years, and while I think I’ve found the answer for me, that doesn’t make it simple.
For some, a Pride flag communicates safety, welcome, and solidarity with people who have too often been rejected, misunderstood, persecuted, or treated as problems to be solved. For others, the flag may feel like support for a broader movement or worldview that conflicts with revealed Latter-day Saint doctrine about marriage, gender, sexuality, and the family.
I understand why this question feels tender and complicated on every side, but I am confident that humble examination of revealed doctrine and prophetic guidance can illuminate a way forward. I also believe we cannot discuss this faithfully if we talk about LGBTQ+ people as if they are outside the room, rather than already present in our families, friendships, and pews.
Beginning With What the Church Teaches
A faithful conversation should begin with what the Church actually teaches. The Church’s Topics and Questions essay on same-sex attraction states that “identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual or experiencing same-sex attraction is not a sin” and does not prevent a person from participating in the Church, holding callings, or attending the temple.
The same essay also teaches that sexual relations are reserved for a man and a woman who are married to each other. That doctrine is central to Latter-day Saint beliefs about the law of chastity, temple covenants, eternal marriage, and the family.
Those two teachings sit side by side, and we do real harm when we emphasize one while minimizing the other. We cannot ignore established doctrine, but it is also incorrect to treat LGBTQ+ people as though their very existence is a moral failure.
The Church’s own language invites a more careful distinction than we have often made culturally. LGBTQ+ members “do not choose to have such attractions,” and are therefore only accountable for how they choose to respond to them (“The Lord Needs You Now!”).
Attraction, identity, behavior, covenant-keeping, discipleship, and belonging are related in complicated ways, but they are not all the same thing. A person can be open about being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer without that single fact telling us everything about their faith, their covenants, their choices, or their relationship with God.
The History We Need to Acknowledge
At the same time, there are those whose experience of gender or identity has made Church life painful in ways many of us have not fully understood.
This is one reason I do not think we can talk about Pride symbols only in terms of doctrine. We also have to acknowledge that the narrative inside Latter-day Saint culture, including over the pulpit, has not always been as compassionate, informed, or understanding as it should have been.
For many years, too many conversations about LGBTQ+ people seemed shaped by fear, discomfort, caricature, or ignorance about the nature of sexuality and gender. Even when members were simply trying to defend doctrine, the result was often that real people felt spiritually homeless in the very community that should have helped them feel the love of Jesus Christ.
Many LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints and their families carry memories of incredibly hurtful comments, lessons, interviews, policies, jokes, assumptions, and exclusion. Avoiding that reality to spare our own feelings is not what our discipleship calls us to do, nor will it help us navigate the complexities of these issues.
A Liahona article titled “Understanding and Including Our LGBT Brothers and Sisters” offers some helpful ways forward. The author, who served as a bishop, wrote about learning through study, humility, trial and error, and open conversations with LGBTQ+ members and their families.
One of the article’s most important reminders is to rely on recent teachings from living apostles. Where the perspectives and guidance of the past fell short, the Church’s current resources speak with much more nuance and compassion than many of us grew up hearing.
Current Guidance for Latter-day Saints
Recent Church teachings repeatedly call members to choose charity, inclusion, and humility. In a Church’s Life Help resource on same-sex attraction, family members are counseled to begin with love, to listen, to try to understand, and to remember that blame is neither warranted nor helpful.
That same source includes President Dallin H. Oaks’ counsel about balancing love and law. He taught that “We should not start off our interaction with people who are making different choices than we desire by arguing about their choices.” Instead, he counsels us to begin by asking where they are coming from, what they value, and what they hope to accomplish.
That counsel also applies to the Pride flag question. Before we decide what someone else’s flag must mean, maybe discipleship asks us to lead with curiosity and ask what they are trying to communicate.
Sister Carol F. McConkie’s words in a same-sex attraction resource for leaders are also worth sitting with. “I know people who come to church every Sunday so that they can be inspired and uplifted and who just simply walk away feeling judged and unloved and unneeded, like there is no place for them at church,” she said.
That should trouble us. Whatever we believe about a flag, a policy, a symbol, or a cultural debate, no one should leave a chapel feeling that the gospel of Jesus Christ has no place for them.
The Church’s Call to Fairness for All
The Church has also modeled a public approach that leaves room for both conviction and cooperation. In 2019, the Church expressed support for the federal Fairness for All Act, describing it as an effort to preserve religious freedom while protecting LGBT people from discrimination.
That support did not represent a change in Church doctrine about marriage or sexuality. It did show that the Church believes Latter-day Saints can defend religious freedom while also supporting meaningful legal protections for LGBTQ+ people in areas such as housing and employment.
LDS Church Makes First Donation to Utah Pride Center
President Oaks has spoken powerfully about this same principle in public settings. In “Going Forward with Religious Freedom and Nondiscrimination,” a 2021 address he gave at the University of Virginia, he taught that people in a pluralistic society should not seek total dominance for their own position, but should seek fairness for all.
“This requires us to accept some laws we dislike, and to live peacefully with some persons whose values differ from our own. Amid such inevitable differences, we should make every effort to understand the experiences and concerns of others, especially when they differ from our own,” he said.
This counsel may surprise or challenge members who assume that any public support for LGBTQ+ people undermines doctrine. The Church’s own actions suggest something more broad and more Christlike: we can hold to revealed doctrine while also refusing to make life harsher, lonelier, or less safe for people who do not share all of our beliefs.
In his April 2026 general conference message “Alive in Christ,” President Oaks acknowledged that this balancing act is not easy. “When we seek to keep all the commandments in our personal lives, we are sometimes accused of having no love for those who don’t. When we show personal love and support loving causes, we are sometimes misunderstood as implying support for results that contradict our other religious duties,” he said.
This reality strikes at the heart of the Pride flag question and the conflict that Latter-day Saints may feel seeing or displaying it. Nevertheless, President Oaks does not excuse us from our obligation as followers of Christ to wrestle with these questions and seek to “live peaceably and lovingly with other children of God who do not share our values.”
Why a Latter-day Saint Might Display a Pride Flag
Given all this, I can understand why a faithful Latter-day Saint might choose to display a Pride flag. For them, it may mean, “You are safe here.” It may mean, “My child, sibling, neighbor, friend, or ward member is loved here, and I want them to know it before they have to wonder.”
Lift + Love (liftandlove.org) is an online community whose mission is to “support LGBTQ Latter-day Saints and their families by building a Christ-centered community of belonging and strength, with the express purpose of keeping families together, faith strong, and a meaningful connection to the Savior for every person.”
In a Lift + Love podcast episode about the Pride flag, one speaker compared the flag to old neighborhood signs that helped children know which houses were safe to approach if they were afraid. Another speaker connected the rainbow to the story of Noah and described it as a symbol of peace and safety.
Whether every person sees the Pride flag that way or not, it is worth understanding that many people who display it are not engaging in a political debate. Instead, they are attempting to mark their home as a safe harbor for people who do not always know if they are welcome.
Centering the People Most Affected
In having these discussions, I also think we need to be careful not to treat LGBTQ+ people like departures from the “norm,” existing solely outside the Church, whose lives need only be discussed in hypotheticals. They are our children, siblings, parents, cousins, friends, Relief Society teachers, Elders Quorum presidents, youth, Primary children, missionaries, ministering brothers and sisters, and neighbors.
Additionally, I do not want to assume that every LGBTQ+ person experiences the Pride flag the same way. As the Lift + Love podcast highlighted, some may see it as a welcome sign, especially in spaces where they have learned to brace themselves for rejection.
Others may feel more complicated about it. Sky Sorensen, a gay Latter-day Saint who has written and spoken about seeking to reconcile same-sex attraction with covenant discipleship, feels that in engaging “with the pride movement, whether intentionally or not, we are promoting the message that doctrinal change is the only acceptable way forward—or at least, that it’s a strong possibility.”
Jeff Bennion, a marriage and family therapist and co-founder of the Gender Harmony Institute, has shared a similar concern. Writing in Public Square Magazine, he described a Church leader who tried to express support by showing him photos of himself at a Pride march, but Bennion wrote, “I don’t identify with the Pride flag and see some deep conflicts in Pride festivities in relation to my own faith and convictions.”
Still others may see a Pride flag displayed by a Church member and wonder whether it represents real acceptance or only a well-intended shortcut. If the person displaying it has not taken time to learn from LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints, listen to their actual experiences, or examine their own assumptions, the gesture may feel more like a desire to be seen as loving than a commitment to love well.
A flag cannot replace friendship. It cannot replace difficult conversations, changed language, safer homes, more thoughtful lessons, eliminated gossip, better ministering, or the courage to push back when someone speaks cruelly about LGBTQ+ people.
Still, symbols matter. For someone who has spent years wondering whether a Latter-day Saint home or family gathering is emotionally safe, a small symbol of welcome may carry more weight than the person displaying it even realizes.
When We Disagree About the Symbol
Of course, some faithful, loving Latter-day Saints will still feel uncomfortable displaying a Pride flag. They may worry that the symbol communicates support for beliefs or behaviors they cannot endorse, and they may feel a sincere responsibility to avoid confusion about doctrine.
I think those concerns deserve to be heard without mockery. Latter-day Saints who wrestle with this question out of an honest desire to do what’s right are not hateful, fearful, or unkind.
But personal discomfort with a symbol does not excuse contempt for those who choose differently. If we disagree with a neighbor’s flag, a family member’s post, or a ward member’s choice to show support during Pride month, discipleship still requires us to speak with humility and love.
The Lift + Love podcast included a story about an anonymous letter criticizing a Pride flag in a Utah neighborhood. The speakers suggested that a better response would have been a loving conversation, perhaps one that began with curiosity rather than accusation.
That kind of conversation does not require us to surrender our beliefs. It requires us to treat another person’s heart as more important than our need to make a point.
What Discipleship Requires
I do not have a final answer that I think every Latter-day Saint must adopt. My own feeling is that a Pride flag can be displayed by a faithful Church member as a sign of love, safety, and solidarity, especially when it is rooted in real relationships with LGBTQ+ people.
I also recognize that symbols are sometimes subjective and that the person receiving the message gets some say in what the message communicates. That is why I think a more faithful question goes deeper than whether the flag is “appropriate.” It asks what message we hope to send, whose experience we have taken time to understand, and whether the love we display publicly is also being lived privately.
That is where I hope this conversation leads us. Not to a shallow peace that avoids doctrine, and not to a cold orthodoxy devoid of love, but to the harder and holier work of seeing one another as children of God in the midst of difficult conversations.
A Better Question for Pride Month
Maybe, then, the question is not only whether a pride flag belongs in a particular space. Maybe the question is whether LGBTQ+ people can feel, with or without a visible symbol, that they belong among us.
And if we want to understand what belonging actually feels like, maybe it is also a listening question. Are we willing to ask LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints what helps them feel seen, what feels painful, what feels performative, what feels healing, and what they wish the rest of us understood?
I hope we can be the kind of people who are more interested in opening conversations than ending them. I hope our homes, wards, and communities increasingly reflect the Savior’s ability to hold truth and love together without diminishing either one.
For LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints, their loved ones, and others who have wrestled with this question, what does the Pride flag mean to you when you see it displayed by a Church member? What do you wish more Church members understood, said, asked, or did to help you feel seen, valued, and welcome? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Holly Wallace is a writer and storyteller drawn to meaningful questions and overlooked details. Her work explores Latter-day Saint life and culture through faithful inquiry, inviting readers to pause, consider, and engage more deeply with what matters most.
Most of us do not wave flags advertising our sexual orientation. A flag is a clear sign of comittment to a cause. If Latter-day Saints fly a flag shouldn’t it represent what we believe in, specifically morality as specified by God? I know members who have same gender attraction but who, like faithful heterosexuals simply try to follow God’s commandments. I’d argue that that’s what we should expect and “salute”. Alexander Pope said it best…and I quote as correctly as memory permits: ” Vice is a monster of so freightful mein that to be hated needs but to be seen; yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace”.
Hate is obviously unchristian, but tacit acceptance of unchristian practices is not healthy either. Maybe one solution to our national divide is for ALL of us to keep our PRIVATE lives private without radical parades, flags, etc. Jabbing at a hornet’s nest usually is a poor decision! Maybe a “heterosexual” flag should be circulated for millions of heterosexuals to “proudly” fly?? “Live and let live” is of necessity a two-way street.—always!
I proudly have a rainbow sticker on the car I drive to church. I’m not LGBTQ. No one that typically rides in that car with me is LGBTQ. I’m not promoting my sexuality or anyone’s sexuality. I am promoting love and inclusiveness. I do it for LGBTQ members in my community. I do it to show others that not everyone in that church building is MAGA, that not everyone in that building will be judgmental, ignorant, unempathetic, fearful and bigoted like you, Mr. Payne. I do it to show others that everyone has a place in Christ’s church, even if it makes some who can only focus on the sex portion of it uncomfortable.
Exactly. First and great commandment, to love God and the second is like unto it- to love your neighbor as yourself. Fairly simple if you ask me.
A pride symbol, for me, demonstrates that I am a safe person. If you need help, come to me. It’s rather like those scriptures that instruct us to care for the needy and those whose hands hang down- you know, care for our brothers and sisters like Christ did when he was on the earth. You do you, but don’t criticize me for doing me, please.
I agree with Warren. I’m not interested in what anyone else does or doesn’t do in their bedroom. I thing it’s creepy that some people want to broadcast it. Put the flag away and keep that part of your life to yourself, please.
I cannot understand the need for a special flag or sign or group to represent a certain group. Why don’t we all wear a pin or symbol representing our preferences? Then everybody would know what we represent.
No we don’t need any special pins, signs, or groups we all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ and should not be ashamed of who we are. After all we are told not to judge others. So quit digging dirt on others and accept them for who they are and treat them as you would the savior if he was with you.
Spoken like someone who is always in the majority and never been viewed as less-than. I know it’s hard for white, heterosexual males to understand not having the world built around you and your feelings, but maybe try it just a little.
Amy, yes. People who are marginalized often want to have a symbol to wear or wave or identify with because they feel invisible and not valued. Waving a flag is a way to push back on that narrative to state, “I’m a valuable person, too.” If no one felt marginalized, they probably wouldn’t want or need a flag.
You just made a ton of assumptions yourself about his experiences. Thats also not inclusive or encouraging dialogue.
I would think that you can personally give support to a loved one without sending out confusing messages to the public. People use that flag to express all kinds of political messages. I can express love and support to someone I care about without displaying a flag to the world.
There’s nothing confusing about the flag. It symbolizes that we are all different and we all still have value. You can place some sexual meaning on it, but that’s on you and your propensity to sexualize everything. Grow up.
Amy, I don’t think Dave was sexualizing anything, and telling him to “grow up” does not encourage thoughtful sharing and understanding of different perspectives. For some people, myself included, the Pride flag represents a political movement that often advocates for policy that is not aligned with church doctrine.
This is a deeply sensitive subject and each view has its merits. Whatever the reasons people like me and Dave may disagree with the use of the Pride symbol by church members, our choice to not use it just means we need to make sure that our LGBTQ friends and family know we are people with whom they can feel safe through our words and, even more, deeds.
The principle in question is love and respect. How we implement that in our own lives and share that with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters will look different for each person.
Hi Dave, I find Amy’s response interesting. I would agree with you. I don’t have to align myself to a lgbt movement to love my neighbor.
I don’t like her accusation and “get in line” response. Can’t really be “inserting” sexuality when it’s literally in the lgbtq name.
You have put into words, what my heart didn’t know how to say. Thank you!
Thank you so much for the article, it is much-needed information for people like me. I am married to the same man. We each have nieces and nephews who are involved with Pride, and they practice it. Our hearts are hurting and aching. Now, your article gave us much peace. We LOVE them so much. We often remind them if they ever need a safe place to stay for a while… we have PLENTY of rooms. Thank you so much.
My brother was gay. I say was because he has passed now. He did not display the flag because of fear. He was 70. It broke my heart that he felt he could not be his self. I attended a gay Mardi Gras ball and wore my brothers beads. It made me feel like I had him with me. I wore his Mardi Gras pen that night too. It was all out of love for him.
I have several gay family members as well as friends. It’s not my business if they are gay or not. I don’t care. I love them all just the same. I have been a member for almost 45 yrs. I am 62. I still wear crosses too. It’s all out of love.
Exactly. Judge not that ye be not judged. We are only called to love and serve each other.
My husband’s cousin was gay. He served an honorable mission. He was the favorite uncle. Yet for years he struggled with his sexual orientation and feeling acceptance for himself and from others. He became depressed. Michael took his own life.
We fly a pride flag to honor Michael and to let others know we accept and love those who are different from us in any way and who may feel they are of little worth. It is about love and respect for all of our Heavenly Parents’ children.
Some neighbors have been curious and asked us why we fly the rainbow flag. We are happy to talk about Michael.
Having just reviewed the varied responses I will add one more thought on this subject. This is pretty basic. We fly a flag or wear a pin to announce who or what we value and to the standards and philosopies /beliefs we subscribe to and follow. In Matt. 12 : 30 Jesus clearly tells us that our loyalties must not be divided. . The Old Testament prophet Joshua said it as plainly as necessary: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve…..as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Unequivocally and with full purpose of heart. If there’s a womanizer in our family do we make a flag proclaiming our love for womanizers? Our “covenant path”, our committment to the Lord should be singular and undivided…..period. We simply do not need a flag to show love to our fellow beings! The B of M advises that modesty is valued by the Lord. Sex and sexual preferences are a private matter and flying a flag to advertise something that should be private impresses me as the antithesis of modesty! Just follow the Golden Rule every day and forget poking the hornet’s nest, which is what many flags are intended to do!
Well said. I think those who support the “pride” flag need to study Pres. Benson’s classic talk Beware of Pride! Satan has prophets on earth leading people astray just as the Lord has prophets leading people to Jesus Christ. Divided loyalties will lead to chaos. Many of us feel alone and struggling at church and it has nothing to do with deviant sexual proclivities or identity. Singling out one particular sinful nature to promote is totally wrong! Yoking ourselves to the Savior and pressing forward with steadfastness in Christ is the answer.
To Amy: With your condescending and mean-spirited responses, you are a big part of the problem, not the solution. The article talks of an open forum where all ideas and feelings are to be expressed, yet every view not shared by you is belittled or attacked. So much for sharing. I personally want to see the gay community treated with dignity and respect. I believe that they should have the same rights to housing and jobs. But I have also experienced the in-your-face gay and PROUD actions from members of that community. If you want respect and civility give it.
Excellent article on not only loving all, but showing our love by supporting their love in the beauty of color, faith, belief, understanding, compassion and which is what each color of the Pride flag means to me; although, I wish the name would change to the Beauty of Love flag.
I think we should distinguish between people and behavior. The pride flag, to me, represents support for a specific set of sinful behavior. That is why I don’t support waving pride flags. The people, however, are much more important.