Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced a one-page bill on Thursday that would prohibit embassies and other diplomatic missions, as well as official American government vehicles, from displaying non-U.S. flags larger and higher than the American flag.
The bill is necessary, Sen. Rubio told Breitbart News, because “woke ideology” is threatening to “take that sense of national pride from us” in the form of conspicuous displays of non-American flags abroad in contexts representing the United States.
The introduction of the bill follows a major change in State Department policy under President Joe Biden. Less than a month after Biden’s inauguration, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued directives that allowed embassies, consulates, and other diplomatic outposts around the world to display the LGBTQIAAP2S+ flag, an updated design modifying the original “rainbow flag” representing gay and lesbian people. Embassies in the free world – in locations such as Brazil and the Vatican – have prominently displayed the flag and promoted gender ideology under Biden, while outposts in nations that prominently persecute gay and lesbian people, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, have not.
In addition to the LGBTQIAAP2S “pride” flag, multiple embassies have flown the “Black Lives Matter” flag to honor George Floyd, a Minnesota man who died in a confrontation with police. Some displays of the “Black Lives Matter” flag, as seen in photos posted by the embassies in question, appeared to dwarf the display of the flag of the United States of America.
Some embassies have also used their online presence to display other non-U.S. flags prominently. For example, the U.S. Embassy in Belize at press time features a large header display on Twitter of the flag of Ukraine, but no American flag.
Sen. Rubio’s bill would impose two requirements regarding the display of non-U.S. flags at a “United States diplomatic mission, official residence, or official office, or on an official United States vehicle.” The display, it reads: “shall be smaller than the official United States flag; and … if flown, may not be displayed higher than or above the United States flag.”
“This bill seeks to reinforce the importance of our flag, which is more than just a national emblem,” Sen. Rubio told Breitbart News on Wednesday. “Our flag is a testament to the God-given freedoms endowed to every American citizen and we cannot let woke ideology take that sense of national pride from us.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) wants to ensure Old Glory always has pride of place in U.S. embassies and other diplomatic missions (Alfred Gescheidt/Getty Images)
“Whether it’s at a U.S. diplomatic mission, our Ambassador’s residence, or an official U.S. vehicle, no flag should be flown higher than the Star-Spangled Banner,” Sen. Rubio concluded.
During the administration of former President Donald Trump, authorities in Washington rejected requests to fly the LGBTQIAAP2S+ “pride” flag on the official embassy flagpole alongside the American flag.
“The U.S. embassies in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia are among those that have requested permission from Trump’s State Department to fly the pride flag on their flagpoles and have been denied, diplomats said,” NBC News reported in 2019. A year later, a Pentagon memo from then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper reportedly clarified what kinds of flags American military bases could fly, conspicuously omitting the LGBTQIAAP2S+ “pride” flag and explicitly banning the flag of the failed Confederate States of America.
“The flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols,” Esper reportedly wrote.
NBC News noted in its 2019 report that the policy triggered the ire of LGBTQIAAP2S+ despite Trump launching an international campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in countries that impose legal punishments, including the death penalty, on suspected gay and lesbian people.
The Biden administration has not continued the decriminalization campaign, but it has loosened regulations on flags. As a result, in 2021, embassies around the world flew the “Black Lives Matter” flag to mark the anniversary of the death of George Floyd, which prompted nationwide riots in 2020. Among the embassies participating were those in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, and Spain.
The American embassy in Brasilia similarly flew the “Black Lives Matter” flag in 2022. According to a press release, its intent was to “commemorate Black History Month and the birthday and life of Frederick Douglass.”
The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, the world’s smallest country, has flown the LGBTQIAAP2S+ flag to mark “pride month” for the past three years.
The embassy, it said, “stands with the LBGTQI+ community against discrimination and other forms of persecution because of who they are and whom they love. ❤”