Washington State Patrol apologizes for accidentally disrupting Pride flag-raising event

The Washington State Patrol (WSP) has issued groveling apologies for accidentally disrupting a Pride flag-raising ceremony on Wednesday.

On their way to the State Capitol for their graduation, State Patrol cadets marched by a formal event where Governor Bob Ferguson and other officials had gathered to observe the annual raising of the Pride flag. The cadets had accidentally taken an alternative route, but their presence was supposedly “traumatizing” for attendees at the ceremony. Reporter Andy Ngo explained that the incident “was seen as blasphemous to the state religion.”

First apology

Later, at the graduation, the State Patrol issued an apology.

"We are glad everyone is here today and as some of you may know, while our cadets were marching into the Capitol earlier today, our route unfortunately and regrettably interfered with the annual raising of the Pride flag in front of the building,” a State Patrol academy captain announced. “I'd like to apologize to anyone in attendance of either event who was made uncomfortable or inconvenienced due to this situation and assure you there was no intent to offend or distract from the flag raising. The error was ours and we apologize. The Washington State Patrol is made up of and offers our enthusiastic service to all individuals and communities in our state. Our motto is 'Service with Humility' and our mission is to protect, defend, and respect the rights of all.”

"Please accept my apologies for any miscommunication and missteps on what should be a great day for us all as we enthusiastically celebrate Pride and dutifully celebrate humility in our service to our shared great and welcoming state,” he added.

Second apology

The apology was followed up by a post on X from the WSP’s official account.

“Our heartfelt apologies for disrupting the raising of the Pride Flag on Capitol Campus today. The team leading our cadets to their graduation ceremony did not adequately communicate about the alternate route planned around the crowd. It was never our intention to disrupt an important community event. Our motto is 'Service with Humility,' and our mission is to protect, defend and respect the rights of all. We apologize for our misstep on what should be a great day for us all as we celebrate Pride.”

Personal apologies

WSP Chief John Batiste then met with Governor Ferguson to discuss the incident, and later reached out to attendees at the flag-raising ceremony with his personal apologies.

Nevertheless, LGBT adherents were not mollified.

“We unfortunately didn’t know that the [cadet] ceremony was happening at the same time and we had speakers at the podium and so there was a lot of confusion,” said Lisa Keating, director of the Washington State LGBTQ Commission. “Some people, I did hear that they felt it was intentional and I tried to intervene and we tried to calm folks down and allow the graduates to go through—it was really just an unfortunate timing that they already had that event happening, we had this event happening.”

“I’m saddened by the impact and that there was harm that was done during an event that is so celebratory,” she added. 

Seattle Gay News reports that another attendee, Marianne "Moaz" Ozmun-Wells, said the WSP’s “presence and marching . . . felt like a flex of power and control.”

“It detracted from the speakers and from our event. I was very confused and it ended up causing some conflicts in our group. We have one day a year where we get to acknowledge LGBT pride and it was very confusing and very distracting,” Ozmun-Wells said, apparently ignoring the official designation of June as “Pride Month” for over 25 years.

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