Russia Trolls U.S. With 'Heterosexual Flag' After Marriage Equality Ruling

Russia's ruling party is trolling the United States following the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality. The United Russia party unveiled a "heterosexual flag" Wednesday at a rally to honor the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity.

The flag features stick figures of a man and a woman holding hands with two boys and a girl. Beneath them appears a hashtag, branding them as "A Real Family."

A visually similar flag is used by La Manif Pour Tous, a French anti-LGBT group. The French hate group's version of the flag only shows two children.

Andrei Lisovenko, deputy head of the United Russia branch in Moscow, told the Russian language newspaper Izvestia that "This is our response to same sex marriage, to this mockery of the concept of the family. We have to warn against gay-fever at home and support traditional values in our country."

The official cited the recent Supreme Court ruling in the United States and the decision by the President to light the White House in rainbow colors following the ruling as impetus for designing and unveiling the "heterosexual flag."

While homosexuality is legal in Russia, a 2013 law banning "gay propaganda" has been widely condemned by the world community. The broadly worded statute effectively bans all LGBT-related publications, television shows with gay characters, public rallies and Pride parades, and has been used to attack and vilify LGBT activists in the notoriously homophobic nation.

The Day of Family, Love and Fidelity is an annual holiday celebrated every July 8 since 2008. It honors the Russian Orthodox Church saints Fevronia and Peter, the patrons of marriage and family, who lived together and died on the same day. Holy relics of the saints are kept in the cathedral of Holy Trinity Monastery of Murom.

"Their love and fidelity example is an example to each one of us," deputy chairman of the Patriarchal Committee on family and maternity protection affairs, Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuyevo told the Voice of Russia in 2013:

"There is a legend saying that Fevronia was an ordinary peasant woman. Their marriage was condemned by many back then. But she helped to cure Duke Peter. And when the duke had to decide whether to choose a throne or poor wife, he chose marriage and family happiness. I'm pretty sure that the Peter and Fevronia story and the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity are designed to remind us of what a family is, to tell us about the joys of family life and to help us overcome various difficulties arising in marriage."