The US embassy in Singapore, in a post published yesterday on its official Facebook page, uploaded an image of rainbow-colored socks accompanied by a caption that affirmed its “commitment to protecting and defending the human rights of all, including LGBTI persons.”
This statement of support for the LGBTQI community comes as US embassies around the world find alternative ways to mark Pride Month, in light of the Trump administration’s denial to American embassies that sought permission to display the rainbow flag on their premises.
In years past, the embassies did not need to seek pre-approval from the State Department to show the Pride flag, but that changed this year when Trump’s White House turned that into a requirement — then subsequently denied all requests from embassies asking for permission to fly the flag.
Many were appalled by this news and expressed their disappointment online.
Don’t be ashamed to be gay. Be ashamed that Trump forbid gay pride flags on embassies https://t.co/RZXogsLyzp
— Mike Sallese (@pesky9) June 20, 2019
Why would they ban a rainbow flag that means peace, love, kindness, respect and equal rights for all human beings? Fountain Valley Bans Flying Gay Pride Flag On City Property https://t.co/s9wOXSHQ7O
— Woody McBreairty (@WoodyMcBreairty) June 14, 2019
Speaking to Coconuts Singapore, Camille Dawson — spokesperson of the US Embassy in Singapore — said that the “US Embassy Singapore will celebrate Pride month with an internal event for embassy staff to acknowledge the outstanding contributions that LGBTI people have made to the United States and the world.”
Dawson also added that “this is in line with the way we have marked Pride Month in recent years” and that the embassy had “not flown the rainbow flag in previous years.”
Even if its image of rainbow socks didn’t have any subversive intent, the embassy in Singapore has made its stance on Pride Month clear, as embassies across the globe take a stand against the White House’s directive on not flying rainbow flags.
In Bangkok, for instance, the American ambassador to Thailand has been showing his colors by plastering his Bangkok residence with rainbow pride, despite the ban. The U.S. Consulate in Chiang Mai is also displaying the rainbow flag on their wall.
NBC News reported that US embassies in Israel, Germany, Brazil, and Latvia had been denied permission to fly the rainbow flag on their embassies’ official flagpoles. However, the pride flag can still be put up elsewhere on embassy premises.
The US embassy in New Delhi, for instance, changed its Facebook cover photo to a picture of rainbow lights on its building, though it’s not known whether the picture was taken at the embassy this year.
Similarly, the embassy in Seoul expressed support for the LGBTQ community by posting a large Pride flag on the front of its building in late May, one month ahead of pride month.
In response to Trump’s ban, YouTuber Elijah Daniel even went as far as to buy an entire town in Michigan, which he re-named “Gay Hell,” so the only flags allowed to fly in the town were Pride flags.
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