Embassy in Rome began flying the flag Wednesday.
QUICK FACTS:
- The United States Embassy to the Holy See in Rome began flying the LGBT rainbow flag on Wednesday.
- The embassy tweeted a statement about the start of Pride Month, saying that they wanted to reflect the respect that the United States offers to those in the LGBTQ community.
- “Today is the start of Pride Month,” the embassy stated in its tweet. “The United States respects and promotes the equality and human dignity of all people including the LGBTQIA+ community.”
- This is the second year that the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See has officially celebrated Pride Month, according to Breitbart News.
- In 2021 the first official Pride Month was celebrated following a statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken authorizing U.S. diplomatic outposts to fly the rainbow flag in support of LGBT rights.
RESPONSE TO THE EMBASSY’S DISPLAY:
- A number of dissenters spoke out with criticism of the decision, with some mocking the State Department and pushing them to create the same display in other countries:
- “.@StateDept Do the Muslim nations. Then we’ll know you’re serious about your commitment to pride,” Monica Mathews tweeted in response. Hadi Nasrallah added, “Now do your embassy in Saudi Arabia. I dare you.”
- Still others responded to what they saw as an affront to Catholicism and Christianity by the embassy tasked with diplomacy to the Vatican.
- “Cool, thanks for trolling the catholic church for no [expletive] reason other than promoting your petulant form of shallow liberalism,” tweeted @thefactualprep.
- “Back in the day if you wanted to colonize some other country and foist your cultural values upon it, you’d go behead that land’s king and parade through the streets with his head on a spike. Now the strategy is to fly a rainbow flag and wait for demoralization to set in,” William Wheelwright (@ploughmansfolly) added.
BACKGROUND:
- Last year Pope Francis offered an alternative message for June, asking Catholics to pray for men and women preparing for marriage.
- “Let us pray for young people who are preparing for marriage with the support of a Christian community: may they grow in love, with generosity, faithfulness, and patience,” Pope Francis said in the video announcing his prayer intention for the month.
