Ted Eytan CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED, via Flickr, Cropped by Resist the Mainstream

President Joe Biden took action on Saturday by signing a $1.2 trillion government funding bill that contains a provision restricting the display of LGBTQ pride flags at U.S. embassies worldwide.

This limitation was embedded within the broader bill, aimed at funding the government until September. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson utilized the prohibition on the pride flag as a means to rally support from his party for the bill, as reported by Bloomberg.

Although the legislation, spanning 1,012 pages, doesn't explicitly address the ban on pride flags at U.S. embassies, it indirectly aligns with Republican efforts to curtail such displays at government facilities.

The bill's language explicitly dictates, “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended to fly or display a flag over a facility of the United States Department of State other than the United States flag.”

This clause underscores the exclusion of LGBTQ Pride flags from being flown at U.S. embassies, among other specified flags.

A White House representative conveyed President Biden's disapproval in response to this provision, stating that he believed it was inappropriate to include a policy targeting LGBTQI+ Americans within a crucial government funding bill.

“While it will have no impact on the ability of members of the LGBTQI+ community to serve openly in our embassies or to celebrate pride, the administration fought against the inclusion of this policy and we will continue to work with members of Congress to find an opportunity to repeal it,” the representative added in a statement.

The representative highlighted successful efforts in defeating over 50 other policy riders that targeted the LGBTQI+ community, which Congressional Republicans sought to insert into the legislation.

Democratic Representative Greg Casar of Texas criticized the GOP's prioritization of this issue, emphasizing its triviality in the face of more pressing matters.

“It shows just how low the Republican Party has gotten that they’ve threatened to shut down government services over trying to figure out which flags can be flown in front of which buildings,” Casar remarked.

Republican Representative Cory Mills expressed disappointment at the necessity of such a policy, citing concerns about its potential to exacerbate divisions rather than foster inclusion.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, viewed the provision as a significant conservative triumph, per Bloomberg reports.

While the prohibition extends beyond LGBTQ flags to include most flags other than the American flag at U.S. embassies, it does not prohibit the display of other flags elsewhere on embassy premises. Flags such as the U.S. flag, the POW/MIA flag, state flags, Indian Tribal government flags, and sovereign flags of other countries remain permissible for display.

In 2021, Reverend Franklin Graham criticized the flying of the LGBTQ pride flag outside embassies, notably at the Vatican.

“Shame on our State Department for allowing the American Embassy at the Vatican to fly the LGBTQ pride flag. What an insult to the Catholic Church! This flag is promoting an agenda, not a country, & to give it equal billing with the American flag is wrong,” he wrote in a post on X.