With so much going on—from the pandemic to wealth inequality to Trump's second impeachment to the Capitol riot by Trump supporters to other tasks necessary to rebuild the United States—you'd think lawmakers have more important things to worry about than flags.
However Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is very concerned with flags. The new member of Congress co-sponsored a bill that will ban any other flag being flown at U.S. Embassies other than the U.S. flag.
Her support for the bill drew a lot of ire from people online.
House Resolution 85, also known as the Old Glory Only Act, was sponsored by Republican Representative Jeff Duncan of South Carolina and has been introduced a few times over the past few years. With Greene's backing, the bill is under very close scrutiny, particularly in regard to the types of flags it was designed to prevent from flying over embassies.
In Greene's statement of support, she called out the LGBTQ+ Pride flag, and said:
"During my campaign for Congress, I promised that I would always put America First. That means that only the Stars and Stripes should fly over our embassies in foreign countries."
"President Biden's State Department has already raised a flag over our embassies that doesn't represent the vast majority of Americans."
Many online felt Greene's support of the bill was unsurprising.
Under President Donald Trump, embassies were ordered to not fly any flags outside other than the Stars and Stripes without permission. Most of the time permission was denied, however some ambassadors ignored the order.
With President Joe Biden, this order was rescinded, and ambassadors are allowed to display the Pride flag without restriction.
Meanwhile, Greene is an anti-LGBTQ+ politician. She's previously "liked" the MassResistance on Facebook, a hate group against LGBTQ+ rights, and has expressed derogatory views for the trans community.
So there's little surprise she supports a bill like this.
Greene's distaste for other flags extends to a time when Harry Harris, the ambassador to South Korea, hung a flag in support of Black Lives Matter.
While at the time Harris said the flag showed support for the fight against racial injustice, Greene said in her statement of support:
"In the past, rogue members of the State Department flew the flag of the radical Marxist group, Black Lives Matter. The domestic terrorists represented by that flag have burned down our cities with the mission of defunding our police."
"We should NOT be flying a flag of a group who wants to erase our history and bring mass destruction to our country through Communism."
The bill isn't expected to get very far in the Democrat controlled Congress.
Perhaps because of this, people online aren't taking it or Greene very seriously.
Greene has been an ardent supporter of former President Trump, including promoting the "QAnon" conspiracy theory. She's also supported very dubious claims such as several school shootings were staged false flag events designed to take away her guns.
Recently, a viral video showed Greene insisting Muslim members of Congress swear in on a Christian Bible. She tried to force Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to retake their oaths on a Christan Bible since the Muslim women originally took their oaths on a Quran.
