Pastor Rants That the Rainbow Flag Is 'Accursed' & 'Should Be Burned'

Anti-LGBTQ Virginia Pastor E.W. Jackson recently weighed in during Pride Month with a fiery sermon decrying the rainbow flag as an "accursed thing" that was appropriated from God and should be burned, according to Newsweek.

The Baptist minister was responding to the Trump administration denying U.S. embassies permission to raise the rainbow flag in honor of Pride and LGBTQ people and to those who've defied the edict.

"Most people don't know these State Department folks are defying the president of the United States and flying the rainbow flag. That's an accursed thing," Jackson said.

"The rainbow was given to us by God as a sign that he would not destroy the earth by water again, and you're going to appropriate that as pride in homosexuality? Are you kidding me? Talk about blasphemy. Talk about arrogance. Talk about boldness. Talk about shaking your fist in God's face."

Jackson accused embassies that are displaying the flag of defying Trump's order, but some may not be in violation.

Brian Bulatao, the undersecretary for management at the State Department, said flags could not be on poles but could be displayed on walls. In Nepal and China, photo and video released by embassies appear to show the flag prominently displayed on the outside of buildings.

"Today, along with the U.S. Mission in Nepal community, I join people around the world in celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, & Intersex #PrideMonth, and reaffirm the U.S. commitment to defending human rights for all," Randy Berry, the U.S. ambassador to Nepal, tweeted earlier this month with a picture showing the flag displayed on a wall in the background.

Jackson made headlines in April when he said on his radio broadcast The Awakening that gay presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg would turn the United States into a "homocracy."

"If someone like Buttigieg were to get elected we would be on the defensive. There is no question about it. I have no doubt that somebody like that would go to the [Federal Communications Commission] and say 'We got to crack down on these networks and radio stations where people are talking' [like I am talking right now]. We can't have that," Jackson said.

"I know that as much as these LGBT activists say that I want a theocracy, which I don't because I don't want to punish them or put them in jail for what they are doing. I want to see them converted," he added. "But I guarantee they would love to see you or me punished or put in jail. You know what? We don't want a theocracy. But I guarantee you, they want a homocracy."

Jackson was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 2013 but lost to Democrat Ralph Northam. He ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. senator from Virginia last year but lost in the primary.