Joe Biden has agreed to ban US embassies from flying the LGBTQ pride flag as part of a $1.2 trillion spending deal.
Bloomberg reported
that American embassies around the world will not be able to fly the
rainbow, Progress or Black Lives Matter banners this summer. The White
House agreed to the prohibition in order to get a $1.2 trillion spending
bill through Congress.
RT reports: The bill, passed on Friday morning, keeps the US government open through September 30, the end of the 2024 fiscal year.
The spending deal has been heavily criticized by some Republican
legislators, who argued that it funds all of the ruling Democrats’
priorities and removes any policy leverage from the House of
Representatives.
House Speaker Mike Johnson – a Louisiana Republican – has presented
the flag amendment as a major victory. Meanwhile, the Democrats have
used it to accuse the GOP of being mean and “homophobic.”
“[The] Republican Party loves nothing more than to demagogue at the expense of LGBTQ Americans,” Congressman Ritchie Torres of New York said on Friday. “I support funding the federal government. So we’re held hostage by the extremism of the Republican Party.”
One Democrat familiar with the deal told Bloomberg that the ban
applies to any banners other than the national flag, exempts the POW-MIA
banners traditionally flown to commemorate missing prisoners from the
Vietnam War, and does not apply to “embassy officials’ personal use.” It would also expire on September 30, along with the spending bill.
Washington’s embrace of the Pride flag dates back to the first term
of President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s tenure at the State
Department (2009-2013). The Trump administration (2017-2021) reserved
the official flagpoles for Old Glory alone, but did not stop embassies
from flying the rainbow banner as a provocation – in Moscow in June 2020, for example.
Since 2021, however, the State Department has promoted both the Pride flag and the Black Lives Matter banner, both at embassies abroad and at its Washington headquarters.
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Author: Planet Today
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