‘This Is a Category One Insurrection’: US Diplomats Fly LGBT Flag at Embassies Despite Trump Administration Instructions
Several U.S. embassies have disregarded the State Department’s directive not to display rainbow flags on flagpoles during Pride Month, The Washington Post reported.
Several ambassadors and diplomats have decided to step around the U.S. State department’s instructions not to fly rainbow flags at U.S. embassies during the month of June.
“This is a category one insurrection,” one diplomat, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Post in response to the wave of disobedience to the State Department’s rule.
The U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, and Chennai, India, have prominently displayed rainbow flags on the sides of their buildings for Pride Month, The Post reported.
The embassy in New Delhi has also bypassed the State Department’s instruction by decorating its building with rainbow lights for the month-long celebration.
The United States Embassy in New Delhi is lit up in #Pride colors to celebrate #PrideMonth. #LGBTPrideMonth pic.twitter.com/v6gxzAps8a
— U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) June 4, 2019
The chief diplomat at the U.S. embassy in Santiago, Chile, raised the rainbow flag to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on May 17, seen in a video posted on the embassy’s website.
The embassy in Vienna, Austria, flew a rainbow flag below the American flag on a pole hanging from the side of the embassy’s outer wall, as shown on their website.
Several U.S. diplomats in Jerusalem tweeted photos of themselves at local pride events, including a March for Pride and Tolerance, The Post reported.
U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, Randy Berry, tweeted a picture of himself surrounded by embassy employees holding up rainbow balloon letters that read “PRIDE.”
Today, along with the U.S. Mission in Nepal community, I join people around the world in celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, & Intersex #PrideMonth, and reaffirm the U.S. commitment to defending human rights for all. #Pride2019 pic.twitter.com/5awKWtcP80
— Ambassador Randy Berry (@USAmbNepal) June 1, 2019
Under the Obama administration, open permission was given to fly rainbow flags for Pride celebrations at U.S. embassy buildings as long as the rainbow flags were smaller and hung lower than the American flag, according to The Post.
This year, President Trump’s state department has denied U.S. embassy requests to fly rainbow flags on flagpoles during June.
However, displaying the flag on walls of the embassy or in other ways is permissible, according to NBC News.
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