A decision to hoist the “divisive” rainbow flag over Parliament was wrong as it does not represent the view of everyone in the UK, The Christian Institute has said.
The LGBT flag was raised over Portcullis House on Friday for the second year in a row, replacing a Union Jack. House of Commons Speaker John Bercow gave permission for the flag to be raised after a request from an LGBT group called ParliOUT.
Parliament was also illuminated in rainbow colours at the end of last week to coincide with Pride in London – an annual gay rights festival.
‘Suppression’
Asked if other flags representing campaigns had been flown before, the corporate affairs office for the House of Commons said the only other example was the Olympic flag, which was raised during the 2012 games in London.
Deputy Director for Public Affairs at the Institute Simon Calvert said that whilst the LGBT standard “is touted as a symbol of inclusion”, it has come to represent “the suppression of even the mildest dissent”.
“This is especially true for Christians who, although they love their homosexual friends and family, frequently find themselves being bullied for not being willing to wave the LGBT flag themselves.
Same-sex marriage
“When the Westminster Parliament debated same-sex marriage in 2013, hundreds of politicians voted against it, representing millions of people who believe in traditional marriage.
“LGBT issues were divisive then and they remain divisive now. The Speaker must be aware of this.
“He should not be hoisting the ‘Pride’ flag over Parliament as if it represents the views of everybody in the place; let alone the view of the nation as a whole. It does not.”
‘Flying the flag’
At the weekend, Education Secretary Justine Greening said she will continue to champion the LGBT agenda during her time in office.
In an article marking Pride in London, she described what she will do to ‘fly the flag’ for the LGBT community.
Greening, who announced last year that she had entered a same-sex relationship, stressed her commitment to controversial Relationships Education – a new compulsory subject which could expose young children to teaching on homosexuality, transsexualism and same-sex marriage.
‘Out of all proportion’
She also re-stated her commitment to reviewing the Gender Recognition Act, to make it easy for transsexual people to “change official records and documents like passports” to match their ‘gender identity’.
The widespread push for pro-transsexual initiatives in schools was recently slammed by leading educationalist Joanna Williams, who said:
“We are increasingly reminded that schools are struggling financially. Yet the time, effort and money that goes into producing and monitoring Transgender Policies is out of all proportion to the tiny number of trans children currently in British schools.”