As Mike Pence pulled up to Höfði House in Reykjavík, he was met not only by Iceland’s president, Guðni Jóhannesson, but also a row of rainbow flags.

An office block belonging to the IT company Advania opposite the historic building had changed its flags on the morning of the US vice-president’s visit.

“We just felt the need to celebrate diversity today and wanted to show that by flying the flags,” Ægir Már Þórisson, the company’s director, told the Icelandic news website Monitor.

Another office nearby, the headquarters for the Efling trade union, had also switched the flags on its masts for Pride ones.

Pencewho describes himself as “a born-again, evangelical Catholic” has previously supported anti-LGBT policies, including opposing the repeal of a law that prevented openly gay people from serving in the US military.

In his previous post as governor of Indiana, he voted against a bill banning discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation. He also became the first vice-president to speak at the openly anti-LGBT Family Research Council’s annual conference in 2018.

Bloomberg’s White House correspondent, Justin Sink, pointed out on Twitter that Guðni had been wearing a rainbow bracelet in pictures showing him shaking Pence’s hand. Iceland’s first lady, Eliza Reid, also wore a rainbow bracelet for the occasion.

so at his stop at Höfði (house where Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Reykjavík occurred), @vp was met by this not-so-subtle display and then the mayor said he grieved the loss of the INF treaty that emerged from the summit but was recently withdrawn from by the trump administration pic.twitter.com/89P8nQmupc — Justin Sink (@justinsink) September 4, 2019

also, Iceland‘s President Jóhannesson wore a rainbow bracelet (as he did while meeting with Putin) during photo op with Pence today pic.twitter.com/kCAUzUiafo — Justin Sink (@justinsink) September 4, 2019

Guðni also previously wore the bracelet to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is a supporter of anti-LGBT laws.

Pence’s arrival in Iceland also raised eyebrows because of the amount of security he brought with him, including military jets and personnel, in a nation ranked as the world’s most peaceful.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump said Pence could not be “anti-gay” because he had agreed to meet the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, who is gay, and his partner during an official visit to Ireland.

• This article was amended on 7 September 2019 to render the Icelandic names in line with Guardian style guidance.