Did the Democratic Party propose to change the U.S. flag to "make it more inclusive," as of early May 2024? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no evidence on the party's official platform website or social media channels, or in news coverage that the party had announced such intentions. A Google News search found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim made in a social media post. Furthermore, the photograph used in the post was taken during a 2015 pro-gay rights protest in Washington. The rainbow-colored flag in the photograph had no official connection to the Democratic Party.
The claim appeared in a post on X on May 3, 2024, with a caption that read:
🚨BREAKING: Democrats are calling to redesign the American Flag to make it more inclusive.
What's your reaction?
Here is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon May 6 19:26:16 2024 UTC)
The account that shared the above post, @DonaldTNews or "Donald J Trump News," appears to be a pro-Trump account that promises "Breaking News Daily." The account's profile bio (archived here) claims "No Affiliation" to former President Donald Trump.
Lead Stories read through the entirety of the Democratic Platform listed on the party's website as of May 6, 2024 (archived here). Nowhere in the program was there a proposal to change the American flag to make it "more inclusive."
Lead Stories also did a search using keywords on Google News (archived here) of thousands of reliable information sites, which found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim.
Additionally, Lead Stories dug through the Democratic Party's social media accounts (X, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook). As of May 6, 2024, the party had not shared such a proposal on its platforms.
A reverse image search (archived here) revealed that the rainbow-colored flag image used in the post had been published by Bloomberg on April 28, 2018 (archived here), with a caption that read:
Protesters hold a pro-gay rights flag outside the US Supreme Court on April 25, 2015, countering the demonstrators who attended the March For Marriage in Washington, DC. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images
Lead Stories cross-referenced that information with the image hosting platform Getty Images and found that it was initially posted (archived here) to the website on April 25, 2015.
Lead Stories contacted the Democratic Party for comment and will update this article should a response be received.
Other Lead Stories fact checks related to the 2024 election can be read here.
