Newt Gingrich, the quintessential “traditional values” politician who has been married three times and cheated on his first wife when she had cancer and served her divorce papers while she was in the hospital recovering from surgery made the following statement in an interview with Fox News’ Judge Jeanine:
“If you listed every idiotic thing that the Biden administration has done in the first 100 days, you’d begin to realize whether it’s threatening everybody who believes in the Second Amendment, or it’s attacking everybody who believes in right to life, or it is attacking people of traditional values who are appalled that this administration would fly the gay flag at American embassies all over the world.”
The traditional values that bigots like Gingrich pine for enjoyed their heyday in the 1950s when schoolchildren prayed to the Christian God in public schools, white men wielded all the levers of power, and the nuclear family meant the husband was the head of the household, the wife keep the house clean and the children in line, and everybody knew their place in society.
It goes without saying that people of color, gays and lesbians, and religious minorities don’t look back with nostalgia at the 1950’s when they suffered under Jim Crow laws, and were treated as second-class citizens by the government, the church and the society at large.
A perv the likes of Gingrich may have his panties in a twist over the prospect of the pride flag flying at American embassies all over the world, but those of us who believe that everyone is equal are delighted that the rainbow flag is being honored by the American government.
Christians believe that the rainbow represents a covenant between Jehovah and his chosen people and a promise that he would never again destroy the Earth with a great flood.
The rainbow flag represents the love God has for all his children, whether they be black, white or brown, or straight, gay or bisexual. It represents the promise that we are becoming a more perfect union, where all citizens are treated with love and respect, including the LGBTQ community.