There will be a flag-raising ceremony at the State Department on Friday with remarks from Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley and glifaa president Jeff Anderson to mark the moment, according to an agency release.Īnderson's organization, glifaa, represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender personnel at the State Department and other foreign affairs agencies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced earlier this week that the agency would display the flag to close out Pride Month, describing it as "a symbol that encompasses the diversity and intersectionality of LGBTQI persons and communities around the world." It’s a sentiment we love at American Girl.A year after Pride flags were banned from being displayed at U.S embassies, the State Department, for the first time, will raise the "Progress" flag outside its building in Washington on Friday and throughout the weekend in celebration of Pride. a father who has passed away or a couple in a same-sex marriage), we’re glad to show them that the make-up of one’s family doesn’t matter – it’s still a family and that’s all the counts. "We know for girls who can directly relate to Kira’s circumstances (i.e. The flag would be on display for the duration of the 2021 Pride season, which includes Pride Month in June, according to a State Department cable cited by news reports. Get updates on the latest in LGBTQ+ lifestyle and travel straight to your inbox. embassies to fly the gay pride rainbow flag. While most of us are now familiar with the famous LGBT rainbow flag. "As a brand, we’ve always strived to share the message that there’s no 'magic recipe' for a family and that families can be made up of all kinds of ingredients – and each is unique and lovely." The politician-turned-right-wing commentator put his outrageous spin on Secretary of State Antony Blinken authorizing U.S. "From the beginning, our 'Girl of the Year' characters have been designed to reflect girls' lives today and the realities of the times," Parks pointed out. a new Transgender Inclusion initiative to ensure we continue to create a trans-inclusive. Julie Parks, an American Girl Doll spokesperson, responded to the controversy in a statement for Yahoo Life. To us, flying the Pride Progress Flag is more than symbolic. "Homosexuality is an inappropriate topic for a children’s book and I am very disappointed that it was woven so blatantly into the storyline for Kira," reads one. Some are now calling for a boycott while others are leaving dismal reviews for the doll on Amazon. A year later, the US city Seattle added five new colours to the rainbow flag: black and brown to represent people of colour, and pink, light blue and white. Unfortunately, not all fans seem to be the most progressive. ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeodĪmerican Girl Dolls have been around since 1986 and have a far-reaching, multi-generational fanbase. People were saying, 'children are innocent, they shouldn’t have to read about sex,' as if American Girl is publishing a lesbian girl collectors continue to be ~the worst people in the world~ #americangirl #americangirldoll #americangirltok #lgbt #fyp #drama "People lost their goddamn minds, there was so much blatant homophobia in the American Girl Facebook groups I’m in, it was horrific. According to, Baker saw the rainbow as a natural flag from the sky.
The flag flew at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. "American Girl collectors continue to be the worst people in the world," Nachman said. The original flag, with the colour variety representing the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community, was designed by American artist and gay rights activist Gilbert Baker. Rebecca Nachman, an American Girl Doll collector in Boston, aired out some of her frustrations with outraged buyers in forums on TikTok. It's not much of a storyline (it feels like a pretty minuscule baby step in our opinion) but it is the first time a same-sex relationship has been mentioned in an American Girl story, and it was enough to piss off some of the brand's more conservative buyers. In her accompanying book explaining her back story, Kira Down Under, the 10-year-old goes to Australia to visits her two aunts' wildlife sanctuary. According to PinkNews, "the book casually mentions that the two women got married 'after the law was changed to allow it.'" No, people are made because she went to visit her two gay aunts.Īmerican Girl's 2021 Girl of the Year is Kira Bailey. The newest American Girl Doll is inciting boycotts because of an LGBTQ+ storyline, but not because she's gay, or because her parents are gay.