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Christians Attempt To Cancel Pride, Celebrate June As ‘Christianity Month’ – Star Observer

Kim Martel

The Rainbow flag outside the US Embassy To the Holy See (left) and a posted by a Christian group for ‘Christianity Month’ celebrations.

Conservative Christian groups are not exactly huge supporters of the rainbow flag, Pride or LGBTQI+ people. 

Now, a bunch of Christians, conservative organisations and far-right conspiracy theorists are attempting to cancel the annual celebration of the month of June as Pride month across the world. They are trying to trend the hashtags #Christianity month and #ReclaimTheRainbow on social media. 

While the hashtag #reclaimtherainbow has existed before in various forms, the new push to celebrate June as Christianity month appears to have come from pro-Trump conservative groups.

Former Republican US Senate candidate for Delaware and far-right conspiracy theorist Lauren Witzke gave the call to her followers to celebrate June as “Christianity month”. Witzke, whose Twitter account remains suspended, posted a meme on her Telegram channel, a favourite now with conservative groups.  

On Twitter, one of the first posts on the issue was from the Twitter profile of Faith Of Byzantium. The profile claims to be disseminating news about the Eastern Orthodox Church. 

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“Let’s get #ChristianityMonth and #ReclaimTheRainbow trending,” announced one post. In another post, the account claimed that the hashtags were a “rescue mission to save LGBT people from the eternal oven more than anything else”. 

The call was answered by many, including Michael Sisco, a candidate for the US Congress from West Virginia’s first Congressional district, who describes himself on his Twitter profile as an “Orthodox Christian” and “America First Patriot”. Sisco’s posts are littered with pro-Trump and anti-Covid vaccine posts. 

“The Rainbow is a Symbol of God’s majesty over the Earth. Not the glorification of sodomy,” Sisco said in a post on June 2. 

Another profile that has been using the hashtag is the official Twitter account for Hold the Line PAC, which claims to be “a newly launched PAC fighting for God, Guns, and Election Integrity”. 

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A post by the account on June 1 had an image of corporations that have used rainbow logos for Pride month, but Hold The Line PAC tried to claim it was for Christianity Month. “Check out all of these Globalist Corporations throwing their support behind Christianity Month! ” the post claimed. 

The attempt to get the hashtag trending outside of conservative accounts was laughed off. “The irony behind the tweets talking about June being #ChristianityMonth is that they don’t seem to realize how hypocritical they sound. Jesus preached a gospel of love and forgiveness for all, not just those who call themselves “Christians”. What they’re showing isn’t love,” said one social media user.

Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration has officially proclaimed June 2021 as LGBTQI+ pride month and US embassies across the world are flying Pride flags, including at the Vatican. 

“The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See celebrates #PrideMonth with the Pride flag on display during the month of June. The United States respects the dignity and equality of LGBTQI+ people. LGBTQI+ rights are human rights,” the US Embassy To Holy See said and posted a photograph of the Rainbow flag outside the embassy building. 

As expected, the move invited backlash from conservative Christian groups. 

“Shame on our State Department for allowing the American Embassy at the Vatican to fly the LGBTQ pride flag. What an insult to the Catholic Church! This flag is promoting an agenda, not a country, & to give it equal billing with the American flag is wrong,” said evangelist Franklin Graham. 

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