Vets MIA, POW Flags Replaced with Gay Pride Rainbows at Veterans Memorial Plaza
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza in Rockville, Maryland has flag replaced
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Officials have taken down flags for POW and MIA veterans and replaced them with gay pride rainbow flags outside an executive office building at a memorial plaza in Maryland, causing outrage.
The move was spearheaded by Montgomery County Council member Evan Glass, the council's first LGBTQ member, who helped raise the pride flag Monday morning at Veterans Memorial Plaza in Rockville.
Vietnam veteran John “Bill” Williams said the flags are meant to honor soldiers still missing, saying he was upset to see them taken down.
“When I was in Vietnam, I was there six days before two guys were missing in action, and they still haven’t found their bodies,” Williams explains.
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Such losses are why the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza in Rockville, Maryland, means so much to Williams, according to The Blaze.
And it's also why he was upset that the plaza's POW/MIA flag was replaced with an LGBTQ rainbow flag for pride month, WRC-TV reported.
"I wasn't happy about it at all because the park is supposed to be a veterans park," Williams told WRC.
"People died. Now they took it down and put another flag up."
He added to the station, "If they want to put the other flag underneath, they could put it underneath, but the POW flag should be flying there."
What's the background?
It was the first time a rainbow pride flag flew at the Veterans Memorial Plaza, which is outside the Montgomery County executive office building, WRC said.
Montgomery County Council member Evan Glass, the council's first LGBTQ member, helped celebrate the raising of the pride flag last week, the station added.
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Backlash
But WRC noted that the flag switch ignited public outcry — and Glass said things would be smoothed over.
"The flag post was only able to accommodate one flag, and when we learned of that, we are quickly, the county government, is quickly changing it," he told the station.
"So we're adding more ringlets so that by tomorrow morning both flags will be raised."
The POW/MIA flag indeed was raised again as the rainbow pride flag continued to fly, County Executive Mark Elrich told WRC.
The rainbow flag will be up during June for pride month, the station said, while the POW/MIA flag will fly permanently.
