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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Tue Jun 11, 2019, 09:19 AM Jun 2019

Pence says move to bar rainbow flags outside U.S. embassies was 'the right decision'

By Felicia Sonmez and Carol Morello
June 10 at 9:04 PM

Vice President Pence on Monday defended the Trump administration’s barring of rainbow flags from being flown on flagpoles outside U.S. embassies during LGBTQ Pride Month, calling it “the right decision.”

Pence made the remarks in an interview with NBC News, which first reported on the move last week.

“I’m aware that the State Department indicated that on the flagpole of our American embassies that one flag should fly, and that’s the American flag, and I support that,” Pence said.

The Obama administration’s Pride Month guidelines included rules for flying rainbow flags from poles outside embassies — they had to be smaller than the American flag and fly beneath it. But permission was granted with no fuss. By 2016, approvals were left up to each ambassador or chief of mission.

-snip-

President Trump recently tweeted in commemoration of LGBT Pride Month, prompting some to argue that his administration is sending mixed messages to the LGBT community.

Asked about Trump’s tweet, Pence told NBC News on Monday that he and the president are “proud to be able to serve every American; we both feel that way very passionately.”

“But when it comes to the American flagpole, and American embassies and capitals around the world, one American flag flies,” he added. “I think it’s the right decision, and we put no restrictions on displaying any other flags or any other displays at our embassies beyond that.”

full article
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pence-says-move-to-bar-rainbow-flags-outside-us-embassies-was-the-right-decision/2019/06/10/59eebe60-8bdb-11e9-8f69-a2795fca3343_story.html