Secretary of state Antony Blinken has authorised US embassies to fly the Black Lives Matter and rainbow Pride flags. The immediate spur for this decision is clear. Late May marked the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death and June is Pride month. But to fly flags other than the Stars and Stripes from the buildings that represent the US abroad is still extraordinary. It shows that the Biden administration is committed to exporting its woke values around the globe.
Embassies have flown BLM flags in many countries, including Bosnia, Cambodia and the UK, while Pride flags have been flown by embassies in Russia, Luxembourg and Namibia. In a move seemingly designed to troll the Vatican, which remains opposed to same-sex marriage, the US embassy to the Holy See tweeted that it was celebrating Pride month by displaying the rainbow flag. There are no reports of rainbow flags in Saudi Arabia, however.
Blinken and his State Department claim that flying these flags merely signals the US’s support for the rights of ‘people of colour’ and ‘LGBTQI+ persons’. But this does not explain why Pride and BLM, which are political movements, enjoy such a privileged status.
Although the Biden team may imagine these movements to be unquestionably good, they are far from universally endorsed within the US. Only half of Americans support BLM, according to a recent poll by Civiqs. Same-sex marriage does have majority support, according to a recent poll. But it is still a divisive issue. Meanwhile, trans rights are hotly contested at the moment. There is a good reason why embassies, until now, have avoided taking sides in domestic political controversies. Imagine the outcry if US missions abroad displayed the flags of other disputed political organisations within the US, like the National Right to Life Committee or the National Rifle Association.
What’s more, as the woke elites fly the BLM and Pride flags, they have started to look down on the American flag. The BLM flag is almost viewed as an antidote to the Stars and Stripes. BLM protesters say it represents ‘slavery, genocide and war’. Burning the American flag was commonplace during last year’s BLM riots.
Meanwhile, the rainbow image is ubiquitous in American society. Displaying the Pride flag is a way to let everyone know you are a morally good person. Pride marches have become a bigger deal than Memorial Day marches. All wings of elite culture celebrate Pride (including on kids’ TV shows aimed at four-year-olds).
Today’s chattering classes consider the American flag to be a symbol of Neanderthal backwardness. Earlier this week, Mara Gay, a member of the New York Times editorial board, spoke of her horror at seeing American flags:
‘I was on Long Island this weekend visiting a really dear friend and I was really disturbed. I saw dozens and dozens of pick-up trucks with expletives against Joe Biden, Trump flags, and in some cases, just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing, because essentially the message was clear, it was, “This is my country, this is not your country, I own this”.’
Note that this dialogue is going on exclusively inside Gay’s head – not a single person actually said to her, ‘This is my country, this is not your country’. The mere sight of an American flag, flown by the ‘wrong’ kind of people, is enough to trigger an instant judgement of character.
