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Brian Glenn (center), a White House correspondent for Real America's Voice, in the Oval Office on September 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.
The president was responding to a question by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's boyfriend, Brian Glenn, who said many people were “threatened” by the inclusive banner.
President Donald Trump said Monday in the Oval Office that he would have “no problem” with removing LGBTQ+ Progress Pride flags from Washington, D.C. streets, telling reporters that the banners could even be treated as symbols of domestic terrorism.
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The remarks came during an exchange with Brian Glenn, a correspondent for the far-right Real America’s Voice network and the boyfriend of Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. In front of a small group of reporters comprising the press pool, Glenn showed Trump an image of the Progress Pride flag hanging in front of a business and claimed it was a “trans flag” displayed on 14th Street, a main thoroughfare in the capital, which is long associated with LGBTQ+ nightlife and businesses. He asked whether the president would consider requiring the removal of the flag.
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"A lot of people are very threatened by this flag. It means a lot of different negative things to people, violence," Glenn claimed.
“Well, I wouldn’t be,” Trump said. “Then they’ll sue, and they’ll get freedom of speech stuff. So that’ll happen. But I would have no problem with it.” He then compared the issue to burning the American flag, which he called “an incitement” to violence. Trump recently attempted to make it a crime to burn an American flag through an executive order.
For LGBTQ+ people, the Progress Pride flag represents visibility and belonging. The Progress Pride flag was introduced in 2018 by nonbinary designer Daniel Quasar, who reimagined Gilbert Baker’s rainbow flag to include a chevron of light blue, pink, and white for the transgender community, and black and brown stripes to highlight LGBTQ+ people of color and those lost to HIV and AIDS. It has become one of the most widely recognized LGBTQ+ symbols worldwide, flown on government buildings, city streets, and at Pride events as a statement of inclusivity and visibility.
Glenn pressed further, telling the president, “Well, there’s also, we call it ‘transtifa,’ so perhaps if you can label them a domestic terrorist group, in all reality, you could take that flag down. It would represent the transtifa.” Trump replied, “I think you probably could. Again, you’ll be sued, and it’s okay. I’ve been sued before a couple of times.”
Glenn’s reference echoed recent right-wing narratives about what he called “trans shooters.” After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed in Utah last week, the New York Post and Wall Street Journal ran a series of stories tying the crime to the trans community, despite conflicting accounts from investigators. In August in Minnesota, officials condemned efforts to scapegoat the trans community after a transgender person was charged in a school shooting that left two children dead.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that symbolic displays, including flags, are protected expression.
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