Aspen neighbors let VP Pence know where they stand on LGBT+ rights

Vice President Mike Pence’s views on LGBT+ rights are well known. And neighbors have found innovative ways to show him they don’t like his views and to show support for LGBT+ rights. When Pence and his wife Karen Sue moved in to a rented house in Washington during the transition, many neighbors hung rainbow flags on their homes to send the Vice President-elect a message. (See Some welcome Pence to new neighborhood with gay-pride flags)

The Vice President and his wife are staying in Aspen, Colorado over the holidays. Their next-door neighbors found a clever way to get their point across. On a stone pillar that sits at the end of driveways to both homes, they hung a banner that says, “Make America Gay Again.”

When Pence was governor of Indiana, he supported a law that members of the LGBT+ community said encouraged discrimination against them. After national outrage over the law, it was later modified by an amendment that protects the community.

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He also attempted to amend the Indiana constitution to ban same-sex marriages, but was unsuccessful. As a member of Congress, he opposed legislation which repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” act in 2010. He also supported conversion therapy.

Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo told the Aspen Times that one of his deputies “was present when the man who lives in the home came out and first draped the banner over the stone pillar.”

DiSalvo said, "He was real sheepish and thought he might be confronted by the Secret Service or deputies who'd tell him he couldn't do it. When they said, 'We're not here to control your free speech rights,' they came out with chili and began feeding them."

Aspen residents have a long history of making their views known to high profile visitors. Sheriff DiSalvo said, “This town had a history of irreverence when it came to our visitors. We seem to have lost that a bit, but this is an extension of that.

Copyright The Gayly – December 30, 2017 @ 2:50 p.m. CST.