Washington State Patrol apologizes for graduation ceremony that triggered attendees of state’s Pride flag raising

On Wednesday, as freshly minted troopers marched toward the State Capitol steps in Olympia for their long-planned graduation event, they unintentionally crossed paths with the ceremonial raising of the Pride flag. The crossover was purely a logistical mistake, but for some Pride-goers, the sight of uniformed officers simply walking in formation was apparently so “traumatizing” that the State Patrol ended up issuing a full-blown apology for “disrupting” the event.

“Our heartfelt apologies,” WSP posted on X, “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.”

Meanwhile, Chris Loftis of the WSP made sure to assure everyone that this wasn’t a microaggression, noting that the graduation had been scheduled “many months and even more than a year in advance.”

At the time of the graduation, the WSP academy captain who was emceeing the event said, "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.

"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.”

The captain added, "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."

However, the mix-up and onsite apology weren’t enough and like clockwork, some attendees of the "2SLGBTQIA+" event sponsored by the WA LGBTQ Commission and the Rainbow Alliance and Inclusion Network couldn’t handle it. Lisa Keating, director of the Washington State LGBTQ Commission, called the incident “saddening” and claimed some attendees felt the cadets’ march was “intentional.”

She told the Seattle Gay News (SGN), “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. 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.”

Keating claimed her event attendees were scared by troopers marching towards the crowd considering queer history and policing adding, “I’m saddened by the impact and that there was harm that was done during an event that is so celebratory.”

Governor Bob Ferguson joined in the pearl-clutching chorus, praising the WSP for their rapid apology and calling the minor disruption to the Pride flag-raising “unfortunate.”

According to SGN, the WSP chief John Batiste met with Ferguson to discuss the incident, with Ferguson adding that the chief reached out to "event participants and advocates and personally apologized."

Loftis noted that WSP and the Governor's Office wrote the apology together and posted it on the WSP social media accounts during the graduation ceremony.

Ferguson said at the flag raising event, "Diversity, equity, and inclusion are our values as a state. I'll say it again so our president can hear it. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are our values as a state."