Joe Biden was apparently fooled into signing into law a ban on flying gay pride flags at American embassies, with his administration vowing to fight the measure despite his signature approving it.
As reported by Axios, the ban was included as a provision of the $1.2 trillion spending bill that had been passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, before being signed into law by Biden on Saturday. Biden’s State Department had first authorized the flying of the flags, including the rainbow flag and the “progress” flag featuring colors that represent so-called “transgender” people, as well as black and brown lines, in 2021.
Apparently unaware of the provision’s inclusion until after it had been signed, a Biden spokesman issued a statement saying that Biden “believes it was inappropriate to abuse the process that was essential to keep the government open by including this policy targeting LGBTQI+ Americans.”
Biden “fought against the inclusion of this policy and we will continue to work with members of Congress to find an opportunity to repeal it,” the spokesman continued. “We were successful in defeating 50+ other policy riders attacking the LGBTQI+ community that Congressional Republicans attempted to insert into the legislation. President Biden is committed to fighting for LGBTQI+ equality at home and abroad.”
The spending bill, which is over 1,000 pages long, explicitly states that “none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended to fly or display a flag over a facility of the United States Department of State.” The only flags that are allowed are the American flag, the Foreign Service flag, the POW/MIA flag, the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag, the flag of a State, insular area, or the District of Columbia at domestic locations, the flag of an Indian Tribal government, the official branded flag of a United States agency, or the sovereign flag of other countries.