Pole Position: Displaying The U.S. Flag With Other National Flags On Your Property
Posted on: 29 December 2014
If you're planning to install a flagpole (such as those offered by Maximum Promotions Inc) on your property to display a few flags, be aware of "precedence," the order in which flags should be displayed. This doesn't really matter if all you're planning to display are things like garden flags with pictures of flowers and trees on them. But if you plan to display any national flags, you must pay attention to the order in which they're displayed. If you don't, you could find yourself at the center of some unwelcome attention.
Flag Code Guidance
The U.S. flag code gives guidelines about how to display the U.S. flag along with other flags. The code does not require the general public to pay penalties or be punished if they don't follow the code; it serves only as guidelines. This is why you see the U.S. flag adorning pillows, shirts, hats, and other objects even though the code expressly prohibits that.
Neighborhood Guidance
However, the code also doesn't stop your neighbors and passersby from commenting and creating a fuss if you display the flag incorrectly, especially if another national flag is involved. Sometimes this fuss is interpreted as bull-headedness or anti-foreign sentiment, but many times it does have a basis in the flag code.
Equal Footing
If you plan to display the U.S. flag along with another national flag, you must install more than one flagpole, and all the poles that will display national flags must be the same height. International usage states that national flags can't be displayed above one another during peacetime. This gives both countries equal respect. So if you want to display the U.S. and Canadian flags, for example, you'll need two flagpoles. You can't place the two on the same pole. If you do, you're implying that one country is more important to another. That might be true to you personally, but it's a bit of an insulting dig at the other country. The same goes for displaying the flags on separate poles but with one flag higher up than the other.
State, MIA, and Others
You can occasionally display other flags on the same pole as the U.S. flag, but these are limited to specific circumstances. The POW-MIA flag may be flown under the U.S. flag on the same pole. A state flag may also be below the national flag on the same pole. Corporate flags, from businesses, count as advertising and should not be on the same pole. If displaying these flags on separate poles of the same height, place the U.S. flag on the left pole, then other national flags, then state flags, and then other flags. POW flags should be between the U.S. and state flags.
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