June is Pride Month and many municipalities permit the POW/MIA flag to be flown over city halls while declining to fly the Pride flag. Critics view this as unequal treatment of two groups of Americans, while supporters of the distinction argue that the two flags represent fundamentally different things. Whether one agrees with that distinction or not, understanding the difference is essential to the debate.
The POW/MIA flag represents a narrowly defined status arising from military service. It honors Americans who became prisoners of war, were declared missing in action, or were never accounted for following military service. A person does not become POW/MIA because of how they identify; they become POW/MIA because of what happened to them. The flag commemorates service, sacrifice, and a specific circumstance.
The Pride flag, by contrast, represents a broad community of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and related identities. Rather than commemorating a particular event or circumstance, it serves as a symbol of identity, community, and social recognition.
There is no federal law prohibiting the display of the Pride flag on government property. Some governments choose to fly it while others do not. In recent years, many municipalities have restricted public flagpoles to official government flags and a small number of commemorative flags, while excluding Pride flags, Christian flags, political flags, and other advocacy flags equally.
Adding to the confusion regarding LGBTQ+ are its demographics. For example, a commonly cited statistic is that approximately 86 percent of Americans identify as heterosexual while only roughly 9 percent identify as LGBTQ+. These figures are often viewed as direct opposites when they are not.
Heterosexual describes a sexual orientation, while LGBTQ+ is an umbrella category that includes both sexual orientations and gender identities. A transgender person, for example, may also be heterosexual, illustrating that the categories overlap and therefore are not directly comparable.
The distinction between status and identity helps explain why many governments treat the two flags differently. Status responds to the question, “What happened to me?” Identity answers the question, “Who am I?” Neither is inherently more important than the other, but they are fundamentally different concepts.
A similar comparison would be a memorial flag honoring firefighters, police officers, military personnel, or victims of a national tragedy being compared to a flag representing a religious, ethnic, cultural, or social identity. Both represent groups of people, but one commemorates a specific status, service, sacrifice, or circumstance, while the other one expresses identity or affiliation.
The broader lesson extends well beyond flags. Many public debates today are increasingly driven by symbolism, identity, and emotion while questions of definition and category receive less attention. Discussions that should begin by clarifying what is actually being compared often become arguments about recognition, exclusion, and offense.
Whether one supports or opposes flying either flag is ultimately beside the point. Before deciding whether two things should be treated the same, we must first determine whether they can be compared logically. Otherwise, we risk comparing apples to oranges and mistaking disagreement for discrimination.