US envoy Richard Grenell's Pride flag faux pas

As Berlin prepared for this weekend's Pride celebrations, Ambassador Richard Grenell hoisted a rainbow flag outside the US Embassy in the German capital. That appeared to contradict an order from his bosses back in Washington DC where the administration of President Donald Trump had explicitly ordered US embassies worldwide not to hoist the Pride flag outside.

Grenell, who himself is gay, found a creative solution: He flew the rainbow flag on a smaller mast in front of the embassy rather than alongside the massive Star-Spangled Banner atop it. 

In spring, the State Department began denying requests by embassies to fly rainbow flags during June, the US Pride Month, which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, when queer and trans people fought police violence in New York City. However, the State Department did permit the flying of rainbow flags in other parts of US embassies — just not adjacent to and certainly not above the Stars and Stripes.

Read more: German military commissioner and US ambassador both alarmed by budgetary restraints

For Americans, the US flag is a sacred object. 

'I pledge allegiance'

Now commonly called Old Glory, the flag was approved in 1777 by the Continental Congress, the early legislature. Thirteen stars and as many stripes symbolized the British colonies that became the first states of the new country. As the US expanded over the following two centuries, so did the number of stars: The country currently has 50 states, and the blue block in the upper-right corner has as many stars.

Read more: US Ambassador Richard Grenell should be expelled, deputy FDP leader says 

Americans fly flags in front of their homes or businesses. In schools and other public buildings, from city halls to prisons, the flag is ubiquitous. In fact, schooldays often begin with the recitation of the "Pledge of Allegiance," in which children, from the age of 4 or 5 to the age of 18 or older, say "I pledge allegiance to the flag."

Read more: Envoy says US convinced Germany to ban Iran's Mahan Air

The US Flag Code governs display. For one example, allegiance to the Stars and Stripes must be pledged with the right hand over the heart; for another, the flag may only be flown outdoors from sunup to sundown (unless it is specially lit for night flying) and never in the rain (unless it is an all-weather version).

Most importantly for many who consider themselves patriotic, "no disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America," which means that the Stars and Stripes cannot touch the ground, be flown upside down (except as a signal of distress) or worn as clothing (though clothing may bear images of the flag).

A desecrated flag must be burned.

When a mast split outside a branch of the Perkins Restaurant & Bakery chain during a blizzard in the US state of Wisconsin in 2018, an employee raced outside to prevent the Stars and Stripes from touching the ground.

"The flag was still too high off the ground to be able to take it off," said Brittney Maehl, a local who witnessed the life-risking display of heroism. "So there was an employee standing outside holding it up off the ground ... in the record-breaking wind, ice, snow. I was incredibly moved by the dedication."

DW's editors send out a selection of the day's news and features. Sign up to receive it here.