U.S. embassies defy State Department and continue to rock the Pride flag

It's Pride Month, and rainbow flags are everywhere -- even in places where they're prohibited from flying.

U.S. embassies have flown the Pride flag throughout the past decade. In 2011, the Obama administration actually directed embassies to celebrate LGBTQ pride in some form or fashion. Embassies would typically submit requests to their chief of mission/head ambassador to fly Pride flags outside their buildings, and their requests were historically approved.

Last year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo changed the approval process so that every embassy had to submit their requests through the State Department. This year, every request sent to the State Department to fly these flags was rejected.

Some embassies, however, continued to fly flags and show other displays of Pride in a brave display of solidarity.

Head to U.S. Embassy Vienna's website and you'll find a photo of the Pride flag underneath the American flag (the arrangement is per the Obama's administration's guidelines) in a post entitled, "Diplomats for Equality support the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia 2019."

The embassy in Seoul is continuing to fly the rainbow flag, as is the U.S. Consulate in Chennai, India.

The embassy in India decided to light up the New Delhi building with rainbow lights.

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Diplomats in Israel appeared at the March for Pride and Tolerance.

And here is the ambassador to Nepal.

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According to The Washington Post, all the requests to fly Pride flags were approved last year. Notably, Pompeo did not issue a statement on LGBTQ Pride this year, as secretaries have done in years past.

It's a radical shift. Either way, Happy World Pride, whether the Trump administration wants to celebrate it or not.