New government spending bill bans U.S. embassies from flying Pride flag

Flying Squid@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 183 points –
New government spending bill bans U.S. embassies from flying Pride flag
cbsnews.com

Key part of article:

The White House said that while it had not been able to block the flag proposal, it was "successful in defeating 50+ other policy riders attacking the LGBTQI+ community that Congressional Republicans attempted to insert into the legislation."

They are going out of their way to attack queer people any way they can and if they really get the power they need to achieve it, there will be a genocide. Or at least a genocide far more noticeable than the current one going on, mostly directed at trans people.

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The title should be that the government defeated 50+ proposals against lgbt.

The point is that they (GOP) throw so much shit at the wall that they know won’t succeed because eventually some things will stick. It’s not worth pointing out all the shit that fails. What gets in is worth talking about.

Exactly, although exact titles are required here, so that should have been the title of the article.

Clickbait. The actual resolution prohibits the use of the funds being allocated from the new budget to be used on anything other than government related flags. This is just funding for flags, there's no outright ban on pride flags.

Resolution Sauce (pg. 1000)

(b) 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-

I would think that the "or display" part prohibits a public employee from raising the flag.

Everything before that states the funds allocated by the act can't be used to fly or display a flag other than a government flag.

A public employee couldn't spend embassy or facility money on a non-government flag, but I haven't read anything about them spending their own money and still flying the flag.

I think it would have to be a separate flagpole that wasn’t constructed or maintained by the state.

Right, but the public employee is being paid for by the funds that are covered by the act. Therefore if an employee raises the flag, funds are being used to display a non-state flag.

Edit: To be clear, I have not suggested that an employee of the state wouldn't be allowed to purchase a flag. The way I read the act, an employee would not be allowed to raise a flag because they themselves are a resource paid for by the act.

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The part that was relevant was the part I quoted in the body of my post.

Are they singling out LGBQT+? Or are they treating all non-governmental groups the same?

The former.

Where in the article does it say they're singling out LGBQT+?

You do know what a pride flag is, yes?

The article says this applies to all non-governmental flags, not just the pride flag. I read the article and didn't see anything singling out LGBQT+, but if I missed something I hope you'll point out out.

If you had read the body of my post and the article, you would have seen that this was by far the least important thing discussed:

The White House said that while it had not been able to block the flag proposal, it was “successful in defeating 50+ other policy riders attacking the LGBTQI+ community that Congressional Republicans attempted to insert into the legislation.”

What do you think they'll do if they get serious power?

You're moving the goal posts, and drawing associations without any evidence. This thread is about the article being clickbait, which it is. This is an omnibus spending bill, so the existence of anti-LGBQT+ riders on the same bill doesn't make this specific clause anti-LGBQT+.

Got it. Republicans are very sympathetic to queer people and only want the best for them. That's the important thing to remember.

Just to recap: nothing in the article you posted supports your point, except for a self-aggrandizing quote from some politician, so you're resorting to sarcasm.

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Forbes says:

None of the funds made available by the bill can be spent to fly or display flags other than the American flag and other eligible flags at U.S. State Department facilities, a rule that will last for the length of the funding bill, which expires on Sept. 30.

Does that mean an employee could buy a pride flag with their own money and raise it before clocking in? Or at least hang it elsewhere on the building? That provision sucks, but I at least hope it'll lead to people finding silly workarounds.

This is fair.

Government property shouldn't be for individual ideologies or agendas.

If you have a problem with this, then you should also be cool with "don't tread on me" or "straight pride" flags being flown in government buildings. Otherwise, you're just a hypocrite.

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