
Vice President Mike Pence defended the Trump administration's decision to ban U.S. embassies from flying the Pride flag.

The Trump administration has banned U.S. embassies from flying the rainbow pride flag for Pride Month this June — a decision Vice President Mike Pence is A-OK with.

"It's the right decision," Pence — notorious for his anti-LGBTQ views — told NBC News on Monday.

"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," Pence said in an interview with NBC News.


Not allowing embassies to fly the rainbow flag during Pride Month — celebrated each June — is new.

Under former President Barack Obama, embassies were allowed to fly the flag, a sign of LGBTQ inclusion.

Banning embassies from flying the flag on the flagpoles outside the buildings they occupy in countries across the globe is a step backward for LGBTQ rights.

And it's especially embarrassing given that the administration is touting their attempts to end the criminalization of homosexuality worldwide.

But it's not surprising that the Trump administration would ban the rainbow flag, nor that Pence would back the ban.

The Trump administration has implemented numerous policies attacking the LGBTQ community, including banning transgender individuals from serving in the military, trying to keep transgender individuals out of homeless shelters, and working to implement rules that allow adoption agencies to discriminate against prospective LGBTQ adoptive parents — among other policies.

Pence, for his part, has a very anti-LGBTQ record from his time in Congress and as governor of Indiana before becoming Trump's VP. He is against same-sex marriage, once opposed all LGBTQ individuals serving in the military, and supports inhumane "conversion therapy." He also signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act while governor of Indiana that basically gave religious groups carte blanche to discriminate against LGBTQ individuals.

It's no wonder Pence is OK with a ban on the rainbow pride flag. He doesn't believe in what that flag stands for.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.