REAL AMERICAN:
State Senator puts US Flag back on pole at Des Moines VA
after it was removed for Pride Flag






According to a post on Facebook, Republican State Sen. Adrian Dickey made the two-hour drive to
Des Moines to hang an American Flag back on the pole at the VA. Officials at the Des Moines VA confirmed
to The Iowa Standard the pole previously flew the Stars and Stripes
but for the month of June it would fly the Pride flag.


Dickey told The Iowa Standard he received an email from someone mentioning the
American Flag’s absence from the VA Hospital in Des Moines.

“I thought that was wrong, drove two hours this morning to go up and
put the American flag back up above the gay pride flag,” he said.

Dickey said he has more American Pride than he does Hawkeye Pride,
Firefighter Pride,
Republican Pride,
Catholic Pride or any other group who flies a flag representing “pride.”

“I have 15 flags on my Capitol desk,
but they are all flying lower than the American Flag,”
he said.
“No flag, not one, should fly above or in place of the American Flag.”

Here is a “before” picture:






Here is “after” Dickey put up the U.S. Flag:











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VA blasted for replacing American flag with pride flag at veteran cemetery,
state GOP demands its removal
'We have to show up to fight this woke agenda,'
a Mississippi resident said in protest of the flying pride flag



Republican leaders are demanding the American flag be reinstated at a veterans cemetery, where some Mississippi
residents noticed on Memorial Day it had been replaced with a rainbow LGBTQ flag for June pride month.

American flags flying over the Biloxi National Cemetery and VA Medical Center were replaced with rainbow
LGBTQ flags after Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough authorized the flying of such flags above VA facilities.

The decision was dubbed a "political stunt" by Republicans in the state Senate who are calling for its removal
out of respect for "service members, veterans and their families."

"We believe this decisions shows deep disrespect to our service members, veterans and their families, and
demand that you take immediate action to restore the United States flag to its rightful place at Veterans Affairs facilities
across the state of Mississippi," five Mississippi Republicans wrote in a letter to McDonough Monday.









"Replacing the United States flag with a flag that promotes particular sexual or gender identity goes against the
very mission of our national cemeteries," the Republicans wrote in a joint letter. "This political stunt is yet another
example of this Administration's willingness to promote its political agenda rather than focus on its mission as the
executive branch. Our veterans expect the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide services,
not promote controversial ideologies."

The letter was sent by the Mississippi's Republican delegation, led by
Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker, and
co-signed by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, and Reps. Trent Kelly, Michael Guest, and Mike Ezell.


Some residents also participated in an "impromptu protest against the disrespecting of our veterans"
outside Biloxi National Cemetery this week.

"Taking down American flags and replacing them with pride flags is a disgrace. All people are represented by
the Stars and Stripes. Black, white, latino, gay, straight, Christian, Jewish or Muslim are all represented under the US Flag,"
Mississippi resident Carl Boyanton wrote on Facebook from the site of the protest.








Boyanton is arranging another protest for Friday, saying "we have to show up to fight this woke agenda."

The office of Veterans Affairs told Fox News Digital that while they respect the protests, the flag is a symbol
of "VA’s commitment to inclusion and as a tribute to the service and sacrifice of LGBTQ+ Veterans."

"Protest is a fundamental part of our democracy, and we respect anyone's right to protest VA for any reason.
Secretary McDonough authorized the flying of the Pride flag above VA facilities for the duration of Pride Month,
as he has done in previous years," Terrence Hayes, Veterans Affairs press secretary,
told Fox News Digital in a statement Tuesday.





Mississippi residents protest the pride flag being flown at the Biloxi National Cemetery.




"VA facilities fly the flag as a symbol of VA’s commitment to inclusion and as a tribute to the service and
sacrifice of LGBTQ+ Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors,"
Hayes said, noting that VA would be directly contacting their congressional partners on the matter.