The LGBTQ rainbow flag is flies over the State Capitol building in Sacramento on June 17, 2019. (Credit: Gavin Newsom/Twitter)

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For the first time ever, the LGBTQ rainbow flag is flying over the State Capitol building in Sacramento.

Staffers raised the banner on Monday, and it will stay up alongside the California state and U.S. flags through July 1, according to the governor’s press office.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, an early proponent of same-sex marriage, had requested the hoisting of the flag at the State Capitol’s main flag pole for Pride Month in June. It had only been previously hung over balconies at the building, the press office said. The dome was lit in rainbow colors in June 2015, when the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in the U.S.

“In California, we celebrate and support our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community’s right to live out loud – during Pride month and every month,” Newsom said in a statement.

In applauding Newsom’s move, Assemblyman Todd Gloria, vice chair of the state legislative LGBTQ caucus, criticized the current administration’s refusal to allow multiple U.S. embassies fly the rainbow flag for Pride Month.

Gloria said through the hoisting of the flag, the state is “sending the message that we acknowledge and respect LGBTQ people, and they have a home here in California.”

The Orange County fairgrounds also raised the pride flag for the first time in its history earlier in June after a vote by the fair board. It was stolen three days later but has since been replaced, fairgrounds Spokeswoman Terry Moore told the Los Angeles Times. The fairgrounds plans to have it up all year.

For the first time in our state’s history, the Pride flag has been raised at our State Capitol!! pic.twitter.com/j37udcMTZ9 — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 17, 2019

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