The White House is vowing to repeal a provision in the newly passed government spending bill that blocks U.S. embassies from flying the LGBT pride flag.
The ban was a provision tucked inside the $1.2 trillion spending package signed by Biden on Saturday to avoid a government shutdown.
The move is a reversal from the State Department’s 2021 authorization for U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world to fly pride flags, Axios reports.
The new measure stipulates that no U.S. funding can be used to “fly or display a flag over a facility of the United States Department of State” other than the American flag; the U.S. Foreign Service flag; the POW/MIA flag; the hostage and wrongful detainee flag; the flag of a state, “insular area” or the District of Columbia; the flag of an Indian tribal government; the official branded flag of a U.S. agency; or the sovereign flag of other countries.
A White House statement said, “Biden believes it was inappropriate to abuse the process that was essential to keep the government open by including this policy targeting LGBTQI+ Americans,” adding that the president “is committed to fighting for LGBTQI+ equality at home and abroad.”
The administration added that while
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