The United States Embassy in the Holy See took some heat on Wednesday for marking the beginning of Pride Month by flying the rainbow flag.
“Today is the start of #Pride Month,” the tweet from @USinHolySee read. “The United States respects and promotes the equality and human dignity of all people including the LGBTQIA+ community. #PrideMonth #AllInclusive #Pride2022.”
Today is the start of #Pride Month. The United States respects and promotes the equality and human dignity of all people including the LGBTQIA+ community. #PrideMonth #AllInclusive #Pride2022 pic.twitter.com/6VgN9R8c3J
— U.S. in Holy See (@USinHolySee) June 1, 2022
A number of critics were quick to point out that the State Department was not advertising the pride flag in countries where key aspects of pride month such as homosexuality can be punishable by death.
“.@StateDept Do the Muslim nations. Then we’ll know you’re serious about your commitment to pride,” Monica Mathews tweeted in response.
“Now do your embassy in Saudi Arabia. I dare you,” Hadi Nasrallah added.
Others slammed the move as a blatant attack on Catholicism and Christianity.
“Cool, thanks for trolling the catholic church for no f***ing reason other than promoting your petulant form of shallow liberalism,” tweeted @thefactualprep.
“Back in the day if you wanted to colonize some other country and foist your cultural values upon it, you’d go behead that land’s king and parade through the streets with his head on a spike. Now the strategy is to fly a rainbow flag and wait for demoralization to set in,” William Wheelwright (@ploughmansfolly) added.
Andrew T. Walker tweeted, “U.S. foreign policy under @JoeBiden places this flag in the Vatican.”
“Amb. Joe Donnelly, an alleged Roman Catholic, should be ashamed of this horses**t. You can support LGBTQ rights without rubbing a host nation’s nose in it, you coven of virtue signaling jacka**es at State,” @Gormogons tweeted, adding, “Repeat after me: ‘The only flag a US embassy or consulate should ever fly is the United States flag.'”
The Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro laid out his thoughts in a short tweet as well, saying, “Let’s be clear: the Biden administration would never do this in an Islamic country. This is anti-Catholic bigotry.”
Let's be clear: the Biden administration would never do this in an Islamic country. This is anti-Catholic bigotry. https://t.co/jyTQbT80gW
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 1, 2022
Shapiro followed that with a tweet mocking the Biden administration’s foreign policy overall, suggesting that they were more focused on things like celebrating Pride Month than taking actions to protect those who were actually at risk.
“This angle was obviously extremely effective in catalyzing resistance to Taliban incursions. And then the US’s pullout definitely helped support the ‘civil rights of minorities.’ Well done all the way around, Joseph R. Biden,” he tweeted.
This angle was obviously extremely effective in catalyzing resistance to Taliban incursions. And then the US's pullout definitely helped support the "civil rights of minorities." Well done all the way around, Joseph R. Biden. https://t.co/L9edI6acxR
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 1, 2022