Employees at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in Virginia say they were warned earlier this month not to wear or display LGBTQ+ Pride-themed items.According to The Advocate, internal messages between employees at the VAs Hampton Medical Center suggest the directive came in response to the January 20 executive order withdrawing federal recognition of transgender people and banning federal agencies from promoting so-called gender ideology. Related VA bans doctors from referring trans veterans to private gender-affirming care providers The warning reportedly came from local leadership sometime during the week of October 13, but its unclear from The Advocates reporting precisely when or with whom it originated. Several messages appear to suggest that Michael W. Harper, the hospitals interim executive director, told staffers at a recent morning report that they could not promote the LGBTQ+ community comments he reportedly attempted to walk back the following day.Anything rainbow like lanyards can get us fired on the spot, one doctor at Hampton reportedly told a colleague. However, the employee who recounted that exchange also noted that there is nothing in writing that says this. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Mr. Harper said as much in the morning report yesterday, another staffer wrote in one message. This morning, he backtracked all of it and said flyers, lanyards, shirts, [and] banners associated with clinical care of LGBTQ vets are approved by central office.The same staffer later added that Harper had acted like other people said it, but he totally said it. You cant promote that community, according to The Advocate. Another employee reportedly wrote in a separate message that supervisors at Hampton had relayed that per executive order, you cannot have lanyards, rainbow magnets, [or] shirts and Central Office is coming down on our leadership, which is spilling down to us. Similarly, another staffer claimed that Harper had threatened disciplinary action against Hampton employees who did not comply with his alleged directive. The same staffer noted that hospital leadership had instructed staff to comply to avoid facing disciplinary action.According to The Advocate, Harper has not commented on the alleged directive, and the VA has not clarified whether it was approved by headquarters. However, a doctor at another East Coast VA hospital told the outlet that theyd heard about Hamptons ban on Pride-related items.In March, the VA cited the presidents anti-trans Executive Order 14168 in announcing that it had rescinded VHA Directive 1341(4), which required the respectful delivery of health care for transgender and intersex veterans, and that it would phase out treatment for gender dysphoria. And earlier this month, VA doctors were instructed to stop providing referrals to veterans seeking gender-affirming care from private medical providers.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.