WATCH LIVE: Biden hosts Pride celebration at White House with singer Betty Who
The event comes after the White House unveiled a series of measures this week aimed at supporting the LGBTQ communities.
A mysterious and divisive new symbol of pride had a coming-out party at the White House on Saturday.
The Biden administration's Pride Month celebration on the South Lawn this past weekend included a new pastel tribute to transgender, non-binary and intersex Americans that was hung from the portico of the people’s house.
However, some critics have taken issue with the new "Progress Pride Flag" — with some even saying that in their opinion, it appears to reference a cult of pedophilia infecting many institutions and represents an unwanted takeover of traditional gay symbolism.
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"The flag represents to us an ideology, a political statement of indoctrinating kids and trans kids and pushing kids to sterilize and mutilate themselves," Jaimee Michell, the lesbian founder of Gays Against Groomers, told Fox News Digital.
She posted an image to Twitter on Wednesday morning showing the new flag being thrown in the trash.
American flags and a pride flag are showing displayed outside the White House before a Pride Month celebration on the South Lawn, Saturday, June 10, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
"We’re not fans of that flag," she added.
"They just keep adding more crap to it," she went on. "And the more they add, the more you can see the actual gay flag, representing all the things we fought for and won, getting smaller and smaller."
Pride advocates argue that the new 11-color banner represents marginalized communities with no assumption of "sexual or romantic meaning."
"The flag represents to us an ideology, a political statement of indoctrinating kids and trans kids and pushing kids to sterilize and mutilate themselves."
The president and first lady celebrated Pride Month over the weekend with a ceremony on the South Lawn.
The backdrop of the event included a banner with a multicolored hodgepodge of stripes hung from the White House portico between two American flags.
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People on social media criticized the display for disregarding American flag etiquette — and as an affront to our national sovereignty.
"Conquered land," Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, wrote solemnly on Instagram on Tuesday, along with a photo of the pride banner sandwiched between American flags.
Sudden changes to symbol of gay pride
Lost amid the outrage over the White House as a billboard to stoke division by sexual identity were changes to the long-familiar symbol of gay pride.
The "Progress Pride Flag" that was displayed at the White House includes a five-color striped chevron at the base of the flag, in addition to the traditional six rainbow stripes that have represented the gay community since 1978.
"This new design forces the viewer to confront on their own feelings toward the original pride flag."
The banner was designed in 2018 by American artist Daniel Quasar, who calls himself or herself a "queer non-binary celestial object having a human experience," and uses xe/xym pronouns, according to the individual's website.
Millions of people around the world saw the five-year-old design for the first time this week as it hung from the White House.
The white, pink and light blue stripes of the new chevron represent people who identify as transgender, intersex and non-binary, according to the designer.
The black and brown stripes represent people of color — while the black stripe has a second meaning as a memorial to AIDS victims and survivors.
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"This new design forces the viewer to confront on their own feelings towards the original pride flag and its meaning as well as the differing opinions on who that flag really represents, while also bringing into clear focus the current needs within our community," Quasar writes on the website.
"The trans flag stripes and marginalized community stripes were shifted to the hoist of the flag and given a new chevron shape. The arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being along the hoist edge shows that progress still needs to be made."
Some critics charge that the new design actually glorifies pedophilia at a time when children are being sexualized in public schools and elsewhere against the wishes of their parents.
Two trans activists at the White House event removed their tops to publicly flaunt their breasts beneath the Progress Pride Flag, confirming the worst fears of those critics.
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"These colors right here seem to be a little strange," libertarian activist, social-media influencer and Black Guns Matter founder Maj Toure said in a recent viral TikTok video, pointing to the white, pink and blue stripes on a Progress Pride Flag mural.
"This goes into what’s called minor-attracted person or youth-attracted person. Pedophile flag."
Toure’s claim has been refuted by numerous sources and the original video is no longer available on TikTok.
Rainbow flags are pictured flying on the fence at the Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park on Christopher Street, Monday, June 12, 2023. Three individuals destroyed gay pride rainbow flags flying in the park outside the Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village bar where an NYPD raid in 1969 sparked the gay rights movement. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
"None of the sources above assign any sexual or romantic meaning to the colors whatsoever," the website Verify This reported last week.
"Quasar’s design builds on a design adopted by the city of Philadelphia in June 2017," design magazine Dezeen.com wrote in 2018.
"Philadelphia’s version added black and brown stripes to the top of the Rainbow Flag to represent the LGBT communities of color."
The outlet adds, "In addition to the black and brown stripes — which Quasar says also represent those living with AIDS and those no longer living — he introduces the colors used in the Transgender Pride Flag … designed by Monica Helms [in Seattle) in 1999."
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The White House, responding to requests from Fox News Digital for comment, said on Wednesday that it's been flying the flag at pride celebrations for the past three years.
Still, the decision makers, forces, committee or process that chose Quasar's flag to be the new symbol of the pride community, or how it was chosen to fly over the White House, appear unknown at this time.
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In a video shared on Twitter on Tuesday, the White House generated additional outrage for affirming a connection between the "LGBTQI+ Community" and "our kids."
The post drew sharp rebuke from both Elon Musk and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. "They are not your kids," Gov. DeSantis tweeted.
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment on the flag's design and meaning.
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