Vice President Mike Pence's neighbors
trolled him with a “Make America Gay Again” banner outside his
Aspen, Colorado vacation home.
According to The
Aspen Times, the banner, which was wrapped around a stone
pillar outside the house, was hung by neighbors.
“You couldn't miss it,” Pitkin
County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Buglione is quoted as saying.
Buglione said that the banner was hung
by the neighbors who live in the house that shares a driveway with
the Pences. Deputies and Secret Service agents stationed at the foot
of the driveway received chili and corn muffins from the man and
woman who live in the home.
Buglione said that Secret Service
agents were okay with the banner.
“He was real sheepish and thought he
might be confronted by the Secret Service or deputies who'd tell him
he couldn't do it,” Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo said. “When
they said, 'We're not here to control your free speech rights,' they
came out with chili and began feeding them.”
A resident of the home emailed the
outlet with a correction.
“[The banners] were actually hung by
the daughters of the couple who live in the home, and one of their
girlfriends [I'm one of them!] with the full support of their
parents,” wrote Shannon Slade.
Pence has a long record of opposing
LGBT rights in the U.S. House and as governor of Indiana.
He made national headlines in 2015 when
he signed a bill into law that opponents said would allow business
owners to refuse to serve members of the LGBT community based on
their religious beliefs. Then-Governor Pence at first defended his
decision to sign the bill, but a growing backlash pushed him to call
for a “fix” to the law.
In October, the White House denied a
report that President Donald Trump once joked Pence “wants to hang”
all gay people.
(Related: White
House denies Trump joked that Mike Pence “wants to hang” all gay
people.)