Republicans have forced the “pride” flag to be run down the flagpole at America’s embassies.
The Biden administration’s zeal for what is referred to as “pride month” by flying the flags at embassies hit a brick wall in the form of the $1.2 trillion budget President Joe Biden signed on Saturday.
“The bipartisan funding bill I just signed keeps the government open, invests in the American people, and strengthens our economy and national security. This agreement represents a compromise, which means neither side got everything it wanted,” Biden said in a release, according to the New York Post.
Text Republicans inserted into the 1,012-page budget would end the practice that began under former President Barack Obama, was curtailed by former President Donald Trump, and blossomed anew under Biden.
“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended to fly or display a flag over a facility of the United States Department of State” other than the U.S. flag, the POW/MIA flag, the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag, flag of a state, flag of an Indian Tribal government, official branded flag of a U.S. agency or the sovereign flag of other countries, the text said, according to NBC.
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A White House representative said Biden “believes it was inappropriate to abuse the process that was essential to keep the government open by including this policy targeting LGBTQI+ Americans.”
“We were successful in defeating 50+ other policy riders attacking the LGBTQI+ community that Congressional Republicans attempted to insert into the legislation,” the representative said.
The White House representative said appeasing LGBT voters by flying the flags will remain an active administration objective.
“The Administration fought against the inclusion of this policy and we will continue to work with members of Congress to find an opportunity to repeal it,” the representative said.
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Democratic Rep. Greg Casar, of Texas, said the gesture showed how little the GOP has accomplished.
“It shows just how low the Republican Party has gotten that they’ve threatened to shut down government services over trying to figure out which flags can be flown in front of which buildings. I think it’s laughable, not just to Democratic voters but to Republican voters,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told his members he believed the provision was a major conservative victory, according to Bloomberg.
Flying the “pride” flag outside of embassies, particularly the one at the Vatican, was criticized by Rev. Franklin Graham in 2021.
“Shame on our State Department for allowing the American Embassy at the Vatican to fly the LGBTQ pride flag. What an insult to the Catholic Church! This flag is promoting an agenda, not a country, & to give it equal billing with the American flag is wrong,” he wrote in a post on X.
Two years earlier, Graham had gone on Facebook in support of the Trump administration’s refusal to let “pride” flags flap in the breeze by American embassies.
“I want to thank President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for making the decision not to fly the gay flag over our embassies during June in recognition of gay pride month. That is the right decision,” he wrote.
“The only flag that should fly over our embassies is the flag of the United States of America. The gay pride flag is offensive to Christians and millions of people of other faiths, not only in this country but around the world. The U.S. flag represents our nation — everyone — regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation,” he wrote then.
