Trump administration refuses to let US embassies fly the Pride flag
Victoria Gagliardo-Silver
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YouTuber buys town and renames it Gay Hell in protest against Trump administration's Pride flag ban
YouTube star Elijah Daniel has bought the town of Hell and renamed it Gay Hell, only allowing Pride flags to fly in protest at President Donald Trump’s administration’s refusal to allow US embassies to hoist the flag for LGBT\+ Pride month.The California-based comedian and rapper – who goes by the name Lil Phag – posted a photograph on Twitter of himself alongside a town sign saying “Welcome to Gay Hell .... Michigan’s Hysterical Town”.“As of today, I am now the owner of Hell, Michigan. I bought the whole town,” he tweeted to his 600,000 followers.“And my first act as owner, I have renamed my town to Gay Hell, MI. The only flags allowed to fly are pride.”The White House has refused to allow embassies to fly rainbow flags on their flagpoles this year, leading several overseas missions and state governors to post images online of rainbow banners and pennants decorating their offices.A spokeswoman for the country’s top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, who opposes gay marriage, confirmed the ban last week.“The Secretary (of State) has the position that – as it relates to the flagpole – that only the American flag should be flown there”, Morgan Ortagus told a news conference.> ahead of pride month Trump’s administration put a ban on embassy’s flying pride flags. > > so as of today, I am now the owner of Hell, Michigan. I bought the whole town. > > And my first act as owner, I have renamed my town to Gay Hell, MI. > > The only flags allowed to fly are pride. pic.twitter.com/AKOcZm2Jvm> > — elijah daniel (@elijahdaniel) > > June 17, 2019The Midwestern town of Hell said on its website that its name originated from a 19th century mill owner paying farmers in whisky, and it now offers tourists numerous hell-themed hotspots, such as Damnation University and the Hell Hole Diner.Real estate firm Re/Max Commercial listed the 5-acre town of Hell for sale for $900,000 on its website.Daniel became Mayor of Hell for one day in 2017 – one of the tiny town’s tourist gimmicks – and announced that he had banned all heterosexuals from it.“We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our town the very heterosexual threats we are fighting against,” he said on Twitter.“The straights coming into our town (are) procreating, having more straight children to take our rightfully gay jobs ... Thank you for your cooperation in this tough time, together we will Make Hell Great Again.”Reuters
This Pride month, the Trump administration has denied requests from its American embassies to fly the rainbow Pride flag on their flagpoles.
This is a shift from the Obama era policy which gave diplomats blanket permission to fly the Pride flag during the month of June.
Donald Trump’s policy is that for the rainbow flag to be flown, express permission must be granted, and no requests have been approved.
The Israeli, Latvian, and Brazilian US embassies all requested permission to fly the pride flag from the State Department and were denied.
Rather, the embassies were told the rainbow flag can be hung elsewhere inside or on the exterior walls of the embassy.
Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and an openly gay member of the Trump Administration, said in a statement to NBC News: "The President's recognition of Pride month and his tweet encouraging our decriminalisation campaign gives me even more pride to once again march in the Berlin Pride parade, hang a huge banner on the side of the Embassy recognising our pride, host multiple events at the embassy and the residence, and fly the gay pride flag."
When specifically asked if the Pride flag would be flown on the embassies flag pole, embassy spokesperson Joseph Giordono-Scholz said: "The pride flag will be on as many places as it can at the embassy."
Despite Mr Trump’s claim that he vocally supports for gay rights and the LGBTQ+ community, his administration's policy decisions share a different story as transgender people are barred from military service.
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