Residents of a house near where Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen are staying for the Christmas holiday hung a "Make America Gay Again" banner.

The rainbow banner was hung on a stone pillar at the foot of both of their driveways in Aspen, Colo., as one of Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo's deputies looked on, the Aspen Times reported Friday.

DiSalvo said the Secret Service was not bothered by it. The sheriff also said once the man who put the banner up was informed by them that "'We're not here to control your free speech rights,'" the residents of that home fed the Secret Service agents and deputies chili.

In a brief email to the Aspen Times, Shannon Slade, one of the residents of the home, said the "banners" were "actually hung by the daughters of the couple who live in the home, and one of their girlfriends (I'm one of them!) with the full support of their parents."



The Pences are expected to depart Aspen on Monday.

Pence has been subject to similar forms of activism by gay rights proponents in the past responding to his past comments and record.

When he first moved to Washington, D.C., in late 2016, Pence's neighbors in Northwest D.C. hung rainbow pride flags to protest his stance on LGBT issues.

That was followed by a "Queer Dance Party" outside of his house in January.

He later moved to the vice president's residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory.

As Indiana governor, he signed a religious freedom law that members of the LGBT community said would worsen discrimination against them. He later signed an amendment to the law intended to protect gay people.

Pence said in 2006 that legalizing gay marriage would cause "societal collapse."

Pence's boss, President Trump, joked that he wants to "hang" all gay people, according to a New Yorker report in October.