Vice President Mike Pence confirmed reports that Pride flags had been banned from U.S. embassies, and expressed his support for the administration's decision. June is Pride Month, and in an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, the vice president said four embassies' requests to fly rainbow flags, which symbolize LGBTQ pride, were denied.
"I'm aware that the State Department indicated that on the flagpole of our American embassies, one flag should fly, and that's the American flag. And I support that," Pence said.
"But when it comes to the American flagpole at American embassies and American capitals around the world, having the one American flag fly, I think is the right decision," Pence continued. "And we put no restrictions on displaying any other flags or any other displays at our embassies beyond that."
"I don't have a problem with religion, I'm religious too. I have a problem with religion being used as a justification to harm people," Buttigieg said of Pence in April.
In 2015, when both men were serving in Indiana, then-Governor Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law that allowed people to cite religious reasons for refusing to serve gay people. (After widespread protests and boycotts, the state passed an amendment intended to bar such discrimination.)
The vice president's wife, Karen Pence, also came under fire after taking a job at the Immanuel Christian School in northern Virginia, which bars employees from engaging in homosexual activity and does not condone "transgender identity," according to its employment application. The school also requires a "parent agreement" saying it will not admit students who participate in or condone homosexual activity.