Scroll To Top
Politics

GOP Rep Wants to Ban Pride Flags at Embassies

Rainbow flag

Rep. Jeff Duncan's bill would prohibit embassies from flying any flag other than the U.S. flag.

trudestress

A Republican congressman has introduced a bill aimed at keeping U.S. embassies from flying the LGBT Pride flag.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina last week introduced House Resolution 6450, the Old Glory Only Act, which would prohibit all of the nation's diplomatic and consular posts from displaying any flag other than the U.S. flag.

"The United States flag is the single greatest symbol of freedom the world has ever known, and there's no reason for anything but Old Glory to be flying over our embassies and posts around the globe," Duncan said in a statement issued to the Washington Examiner, a conservative site.

The motivation for the bill, however, was the display of the rainbow Pride flag at some U.S. embassies, including the one in Israel in 2014, in Jamaica in 2016 (after the Pulse nightclub massacre), and Belize this year, the Examiner reports.

Duncan, first elected to Congress in 2010, has a string of low scores on the Human Rights Campaign's Congressional Scorecard -- in his three full terms so far, zeroes for two terms and a 30 for another. He has received endorsements from the anti-LGBT Family Research Council's political action committee.

His bill has 26 cosponsors, all Republicans. It has yet to be referred to a committee.

trudestress
30 Years of Out100Out / Advocate Magazine - Jonathan Groff & Wayne Brady

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.