Royal British Legion peddles ‘LGBT poppy’ ahead of Remembrance Day

A pin badge displaying the LGBT ‘Progress Pride Flag’ alongside the traditional poppy is being sold by the Royal British Legion (RBL).

Retailing at £8 on RBL’s website, the Armed Forces charity justified its introduction as a way of “increasing LGBTQIA+ allyship and intersex visibility, and inclusion worldwide”.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance recently revealed that public bodies have spent £655,700 on LGBT-themed events since 6 April. Last financial year, the RBL received £481,377 in Government grants.

Woke

Former Royal Marine and Falklands War veteran Jeff Williams said: “Wearing the poppy is about remembering all those who fought, irrespective of gender, race, and sexuality — it’s not a political gesture.

“This is just another pointless and deeply offensive exercise in wokeism.”

Commenting on social media, another person said: “Your pin linking the poppy with the Pride flag is misconceived and is causing deep upset. The poppy commemorates all, not just those from a particular community.”

Reflecting on RBL’s decision to promote gender ideology, spiked journalist Lauren Smith observed: “I dare say this isn’t what many veterans, or the elderly volunteers selling poppies on street corners, signed up for.”

‘Gimmicks’

According to the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), Freedom of Information requests show money from the public purse is being used to fund drag queen events, LGBT rainbow fudge, pronoun badges and carnival puppets.

The largest spender, at £127,257, was the Greater London Authority. At least seven other local authorities have spent in excess of £20,000 of their annual budget on Pride events and LGBT-branded merchandise.

Investigations Campaign Manager Joanna Marchong commented: “Public sector bodies from councils to the NHS constantly complain of financial pressures putting strain on frontline services, yet are prioritising extravagant events and paying for pointless gimmicks.”

In response to the revelations, the Local Government Association said: “It is for individual councils to make decisions about how best to invest their resources on behalf of their residents.”