National Park Service rangers are banned from attending Pride marches in uniform, just before Pride Month

National Park Service rangers are banned from attending Pride events in uniform, a policy reversal that’s causing anguish among staffers and the LGBTQ community. The change comes just before the beginning of Pride Month in June.

According to internal memos shared with NPS’s 20,000 employees in recent weeks, the agency aimed to “remind” staffers of a policy prohibiting them from marching in public events that could be “construed as agency support” for a “particular issue, position, or political party.” But a report by E&E news by Politico — which first obtained the memos — said the ban is now extended to Pride marches.

The ban marks a shift regarding NPS’s past enforcement of the policy and support for the LGBTQ community.

NPS has a long-standing history of celebrating LGBTQ history.

The park service has long permitted uniformed rangers to participate in Pride marches, including some of the largest in the country, such as in New York City and San Francisco, as noted by NBC. (Other uniformed government and law enforcement agency members, including firefighters and military members, can often be seen participating, too.)

In New York’s West Village, NPS oversees the Stonewall National Monument, commemorating the site of the 1969 uprising that was a watershed moment for LGBTQ civil rights. The monument’s first ranger is an out and proud military veteran previously celebrated for her uniformed participation in Pride events. The monument’s Instagram page often spotlights figures and moments in LGBTQ history.

There have also been organized events for LGBTQ community members and allies at NPS parks throughout the country over the years.

Still, the new enforcement targets Pride events in a way employees say feels abrupt and unexpected, halting rangers from wearing their uniforms at Pride events and barring them from wearing non-NPS pins, ribbons, or buttons — such as Pride flags or pronoun markers — on their uniforms.

In a Q&A document about the overall policy shared with NPS staff on Monday, the question “Isn’t a Pride event more related to identity than a political issue or cause?” is asked. The document answers that question by saying: “Parades and similar events are seen as a form of communication, both for the organizers and participants, so participation by uniformed employees would be viewed as communication on behalf of the NPS.”

A follow-up email from Frank Lands, NPS’s deputy director of operations, said an influx of requests about events and wearing buttons prompted the agency to review its policy. Lands said policies wouldn’t be officially changing, but that current uniform code enforcement was “inconsistent.”

The news of the ban has caused an uproar from members of the LGBTQ community and allies.

“Pride is so much more than political. It’s a celebration of who we are and who we love. Our existence is not political,” said Queer Mountaineers, an LGBTQ group of climbers, hikers, skiers, and other outdoors enthusiasts. “Pride belongs outside — especially in our National Parks and especially demonstrated by our National Park Service employees.”

Advocacy group MoveOn also launched a petition asking NPS to reverse its decision.

Drag queen and environmentalist Pattie Gonia also weighed in.

“National Park Service, this is NOT what allyship looks like,” Gonia said on Instagram. “I stand with the queer National Park Service employees.”

She also applauded the queer park employees who have shared their experiences, many anonymously out of fear of retribution for speaking out. Gonia and her management did not respond to a request for comment as of publication time.

One unidentified NPS staffer who helped organize employee participation in Pride marches and spoke with NBC called the internal memos “disappointing” and said that LGBTQ staff “deserve an apology for the grief and the turmoil and the distraction that this has been.”

Another staffer who has participated in uniform at Pride marches in parks nationwide told NBC about being “appalled” at how the agency has handled the policy clarification.

“I see Pride as a key service to the public, and I see stepping away from that as a political statement,” the employee told NBC. “I see denying this decades-long tradition as cowardly, and I see it as validating the far-right provocateurs who are trying to push into political discourse whether or not queer people can exist.”

NPS’s enforcement comes amid a rise of restrictions on Pride events and LGBTQ expression, with attempts to ban the flying of Pride flags in government buildings, schools, and parks. Across the country, hostility against the community is climbing, with more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced so far this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

In 2014, NPS rangers in California were prevented from marching in uniform at a Pride celebration. Staffers pushed back and the Department of Interior intervened, prompting a policy reversal.

Now, with about a week until Pride Month begins, employees are wondering what will happen next.

“The primary question is, ‘How is being queer an issue, position or political party-related thing?’” an LGBTQ staffer told NBC. “And we have not gotten any clear answer. It’s an identity, it’s not an ideology, and they are confusing the two greatly.”