Be specific as to where you believe your opinion is unpopular. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion.
Nor is this the first time the State Department’s support for gay rights has been called into question.
A wholehearted defender of equality,Pence is not. But that ignores the policies of the past that gave ambassadors some leeway on matters of human rights, not to mention the vice president’s own homophobia including his support of allowing businesses and individuals to discriminate against gays and lesbians on religious grounds. flag alone should fly on embassy flagpoles.
This week, Vice President Mike Pence defended the State Department’s actions on the grounds of patriotism, suggesting that the U.S. is shrinking from its human rights leadership of the past even as President Donald Trump is giving lip service - or perhaps “tweet” service - to gay rights, suggesting that he fully supports them (although apparently not in public view).Īs we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great nation, let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals…” the president posted on Twitter on May 31. It was a request routinely granted when Barack Obama was president.īut now, apparently, the U.S. flag on “public-facing flagpoles” to underscore their nation’s commitment to human rights. Their ambassadors made the request to fly the pride flag below the U.S. That’s why it was disappointing that the State Department has chosen to refuse requests to fly rainbow flags by a number of U.S. One small way to achieve that is to fly the rainbow flag, the symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights, and especially to fly it during June, which is Pride Month. That leaves it to the world leaders of freedom, equality and democracy to shine a light on LGBTQ rights and demonstrate to those less enlightened countries still caught in medieval views that times have changed for the better.