The answer to the title question clearly seems to be a blatant “yes” and you don’t need to be any sort of legal scholar to figure it out. As part of the White House’s Pride Month celebration, President Biden and the First Lady “proudly” unveiled a new flag display at the White House this weekend. Many people, including many veterans, were immediately enraged. Two American flags were on display (as they should be) but they were flanking a rainbow “pride” flag in the center which was hanging at the same height. For those of you with no military experience or who may be unfamiliar with the federal flag codes, we’ll get to the details in a moment. (American Wire)
President Biden is being seriously slammed by conservatives on social media for a purported violation of the US Flag Code after displaying the Pride Month flag alongside the US flag at the White House over the weekend.
Biden sent out a post on Saturday celebrating Pride Month, stating, “Today, the People’s House – your house – sends a clear message to the country and to the world. America is a nation of pride.”
In the post are a set of flags hanging from the White House facing the South Lawn. The Pride flag is flanked by two American flags in what many see as an utter sign of disrespect for the nation’s flag.
James Woods was among the first of the larger accounts to promote this “error.” (Which was very likely intentional, as he points out.)
There has been consternation that the American flag is neither center nor above this other flag. That is a violation of the flag code. This is not a mistake. This is an expression of the current resident’s priorities.
And of his inability to comprehend who’s House this is. pic.twitter.com/WcV0qMaRQi
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) June 12, 2023
As per US Flag Code §7. (e), “The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.”
I just wanted to provide some personal context for the people who will inevitably begin hissing and say, ‘You’re only complaining because it’s Biden who did it.’ This is complete malarkey, as the president in question would put it. Up at our camp in the Adirondacks, we fly the American flag all spring, summer, and fall while the camp is open and accessible. It flies alone on a single pole cemented into the bedrock along the edge of the lake. It has two solar-powered lights that shine upon it from dusk until dawn. (The Flag Code forbids flying the Stars and Stripes in the dark without being illuminated in some fashion.)
At home, we similarly fly a smaller American Flag from our front porch when the weather is favorable. We never installed a light for it, so I take it down every night before dusk. This dates back to my days in the military. It’s something that you are trained to do when you enter the service and it’s taken very seriously.
The point is, if I can manage this much, then I would expect that the President of the United States could as well. No… I don’t expect Joe Biden to personally remember all of this at this stage of the game. But he’s surrounded by people who control his schedule and are supposed to be handling all of the day-to-day details.
And perhaps that’s the point. What is their agenda? At this point, with all of the support for trans surgery for children and everything else Biden now supposedly endorses as being “totally American,” do they believe that the Pride Flag is somehow equal to the American Flag, if not even more important? (The center position denotes the most important, powerful flag.) This certainly appears to send that message.
To be clear, I don’t object to gay and lesbian people and those who love and support them displaying a rainbow flag whenever they like. My closest gay friends/neighbors fly it sometimes. (Though never superior to the American flag.) They are currently flying an Italian flag because it’s “Little Italy” week here. Doesn’t bother me a bit. But on all of the major holidays, they fly the American flag right alongside mine.
It’s just a shame that American gays and lesbians have been coopted by the creeping miasma of the social contagion of the transgender agenda. We’re all supposed to be Americans first and whatever other distinctions we choose to relate to second. This debate should never have needed to take place. And yet here we are.
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