Christian conservative E.W. Jackson
says he supports a State Department policy prohibiting the hoisting
of rainbow flags at U.S. embassies and diplomatic missions.
(Related: Despite
rejected requests from Trump admin, some U.S. embassies fly rainbow
flag.)
The rainbow flag is a symbol of the
LGBT social movement and is widely displayed during Pride month.
Jackson, the Republican Party nominee
for lieutenant governor of Virginia in 2013 and who also
unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2018, dedicated
most of his The Awakening radio program on Monday to the State
Department's policy.
“I have a major problem with this,”
Jackson
told his listeners. “I don’t want the gay flag being flown at
our embassies any more than I want the Confederate flag being flown
at our embassies. And there is a very simple reason: It does not
represent the United States of America … As far as I am concerned,
the rainbow flag is no different than the Confederate flag. That’s
right, I said it and I mean it. The rainbow flag is no different than
the Confederate flag in that sense. It is a flag that represents the
interests of a special group and their own interests, not the
interests of our country.”
“To me, it’s idiotic, it’s
stupid. The only reason why it’s done is because these homosexual
activists and radicals have so intimidated people throughout the
culture, throughout the government, throughout the society that
everybody thinks you’ve got to kowtow to them.”
(Related: Mike
Pence calls ban on rainbow flags at U.S. embassies “right
decision.”)
“The idea that a man should be
sexually attracted to another man is a lie, or that a woman should be
attracted sexually to another woman is a lie,” Jackson said. “We
need to burn every rainbow flag in this nation. Not we, but the LGBTQ
community needs to burn it and renounce that mess and say, ‘Lord,
forgive us for our sin and rebellion against you and bring us to the
cross.'”
Jackson, a vocal opponent of LGBT
rights, added that the rainbow should not be flown on public property
because “most of us” are not “down with that.”
In campaigning in 2013, Jackson claimed
that his homophobic statements, including saying that gay people are
“sick,” were taken out of context.
(Related: VA
GOP Lt. Gov. nominee E.W. Jackson says anti-gay comments taken out of
context.)