The University of Chicago has decided to stop flying the LGBTQ+ Pride flag at its Laboratory Schools following three years of annual display during Pride Month. The flag had been raised at the flagpole in Blaine Courtyard since 2022, according to activists who criticized the institution’s reversal.
Interim Director Ethan Bueno de Mesquita announced the change via email Monday, specifying the policy applies exclusively to the school’s flagpole. In the announcement, he stated: “To be clear, the full membership of LGBTQ+ people in the Lab community is not a contested issue. It is a core value.”
Activists condemned the move as an unacceptable violation of institutional neutrality, arguing that even basic symbols affirming student dignity would constitute political bias under the school’s new viewpoint-neutral teaching policy. The University of Chicago Laboratory High School serves gifted high school students through its partnership with the university.
