Indiana governor and Vice-president-elect Mike Pence has a long history of anti-LGBT beliefs and policies — Rachel Maddow once called him “the most vociferously and consistently anti-gay statewide elected official in the country.” He’s against same-sex marriage, once suggested diverting funding from HIV and AIDS treatment to gay-conversion therapy, and signed the 2015 “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” which was criticized for effectively legalizing anti-LGBT discrimination. (It was amended shortly after.)
So when he rented a house in Chevy Chase, Maryland — where he’ll live until he moves into the vice-president’s mansion in January — his new neighbors quietly voiced their opposition to his policies by hanging rainbow pride flags outside their homes.
One resident of his block, Ilse Heintzen, told WJLA-TV that she has gay and lesbian friends and decided to hang a flag after another friend suggested it.
“I have no idea what [the vice-president elect] will think about, but I hope he will change his mind,” Heintzen said. “This is one way that I can show my disagreement.”
There are about six flags in total now.