Recently obtained emails reveal how the White House influenced the National Park Service’s uniform ban reversal.
(Washington, DC) – The Biden administration’s support for (or acquiescence to) radical LGBTQ+ activism didn’t simply end at flags and lights at the White House or observing a Trans Day of Visibility on Easter. That support went so far as to countermand longstanding, common sense agency policies.
The Functional Government Initiative (FGI) has obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that show the Biden administration pressured the Department of Interior (DOI) to reverse a ban on National Park Service (NPS) employees wearing their uniforms to political demonstrations.
Both the original memo and the reversal were reported in the press, but the emails obtained by FGI reveal new communications that show the seriousness with which the White House and Biden administration DOI officials took the issue.
In the May 9, 2024 memo, then-NPS Deputy Director Frank Lands reiterated the agency’s current policy of prohibiting employees from “participating in or attending any demonstration or public event wherein the wearing of the uniform could be construed as agency support for a particular issue, position, or political party.” Later internal Q&A made it clear that this policy applied to LGBTQ+ pride events.
But Pride Month was a centerpiece of the Biden reelection campaign, and when reports about the ban were published on May 20th, gay activist groups weren’t happy.
According to the DOI documents, on May 20, 2024, Elizabeth Bloom, then-White House Policy Advisor, reached out to Jennifer Koduru, DOI’s principal Diversity Officer, about the NPS memo and the media reporting of it. Koduru then reached out to her superiors for guidance, where Melissa Schwartz, then Senior Counselor to the Secretary, was asked to “handle” the issue by Rachael Taylor, then Chief of Staff to Secretary Deb Haaland. Schwartz replied “Yup. Headed back from WH now.”
Handle it she did. On May 24, Secretary Haaland reversed the memo:
Haaland said in the announcement that she was directing leadership from Interior’s bureaus to review when employees can participate in “externally organized events.” She also said events like “Special Emphasis Months,” including Pride Month, which honors LGBTQ+ people, are a “priority” for her.
“In further recognition of the importance of these months, I am directing Bureau leaders or their designated officials to determine how and when bureaus should participate in these externally organized events,” the statement said. “This could include marching units in parades, booths at parades, events etc. This would allow employees to participate in uniform representing their respective bureau. This direction takes effect immediately.”
Roderick Law, spokesman for FGI, issued the following statement:
“NPS policy was meant to prevent construing of agency support for a particular issue, yet the Biden administration stepped in so quickly to reverse the ban, highlighting how they were just fine with certain construing support to certain political demonstrations. What would be better is to enforce these policies consistently. The Trump administration’s current policy is now curbing dysfunction by ending such observances on government time.”
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