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After days of backlash, the Homeland Security Department said hateful and violent behavior would not be tolerated.
Nov. 24, 2025Updated 7:21 p.m. ET
For years, the Coast Guard’s policy on harassment plainly stated that incidents of hatred and prejudice “have no place” in the service.
But last week, the Coast Guard issued a new directive raising the bar for proving that displaying hate symbols in public merits punishment. Among several changes, the policy downgraded swastikas and nooses from symbols of hatred to merely “potentially divisive.”
The revisions set off a backlash. Seth Levi of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights group, called the new policy “a national embarrassment.”
Just hours later, on Thursday night, the Coast Guard’s leadership gave assurance that the public display of hateful symbols would continue to be banned. But whether a service member could display such symbols in private remained unclear.
The Homeland Security Department, which the service falls under, issued a further clarification over the weekend, saying in a statement that the symbols have no place in the Coast Guard, including “in private.”
The days of back-and-forth statements created confusion about what changed in the new policy, which is slated to enter into force on Dec. 15.
