The bipartisan measure to avoid a government shutdown includes a provision that would effectively ban LGBTQ Pride flags from flying over US embassies.
Although $1.2 trillion 1012 page package While it does not explicitly mention the ban on flying Pride flags at US embassies, its text includes Republican-led efforts to ban the display of the LGBTQ Pride flag in government buildings.
“None of the funds appropriated or otherwise provided by this Act shall be required or expended for the purpose of flying or displaying any flag on the premises of the United States Department of State, except the flag of the United States, the POW, and the MIA flag.” A false Prisoner flag, the flag of a state, the flag of an Indian tribal government, the officially branded flag of a US agency, or the sovereign flag of other countries, the text says.
The Biden administration has urged Congress to pass the spending bill, describing it as a “compromise between Republicans and Democrats.” statement The White House released Thursday. This measure will keep the government funded until September 30, before midnight.
The White House did not mention the provision regarding flags flying over US embassies in its statement and did not respond to a request for comment.
At least one Democrat condemned the provision. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Progressive Caucus Whip Greg Kasar, D-Texas, called it “ridiculous.”
“It shows how low the Republican Party’s threats to shut down government services are to figure out which flags can be flown in front of which buildings,” Casar told reporters. “I think it’s funny not only to Democratic voters, but to Republican voters as well.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson reportedly hailed the provision as a victory in a closed-door meeting with other Republican lawmakers Wednesday morning. According to Bloomberg.
Some LGBTQ advocates downplayed the impact of the provision, pointing to successful efforts by the White House and Democratic congressional leaders to remove it. A number of anti-LGBTQ provisions Republicans originally added a cap on the funding measure, including on gender-affirming care for transgender Americans.
“This does not place any restrictions on other displays of the pride flag, hosting LGBTQ+ events, or the ability of embassy staff to display Pride flags in their workplaces,” said Brandon Wolf, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group. in a statement on Friday. “This is a desperate U-turn from a Speaker who has completely rejected efforts by MAGA members to hijack the appropriations process.”
In 2019, the Trump administration began denying requests from US embassies to display Pride flags on flagpoles during LGBTQ Pride Month.
After Biden is sworn in in 2021, pride flags are allowed to fly again at US embassies during Pride Month. However, that year, Republicans in the House of Representatives presented a legislative actKnown as the “Old Glory Only Act,” the law required the secretary of state to ensure that “no flag other than that of the United States shall be flown by any diplomatic or consular post of the United States.” The event failed.
Locally, there has been a push to enact effective Pride flag bans.
Florida state legislators in January proposed the measure it would prohibit teachers and government employees from displaying flags that reflect “racial, sexual orientation and gender or political ideological viewpoints.” More than 58% of voters in Hunting Beach, California this month threw ballots In favor of a measure that would ban the flying of the Pride flag and other non-government banners on city property.
Efforts to ban the flag, a symbol of LGBTQ unity and equality for decades far-right ideologues try to associate flag a trope It links gay and transgender people to child abusers who want to “groom” or sexualize children.