An IT-company at the other side of the building, where Pence was supposed to meet the Icelandic president, felt the urge to make a statement. The company flags were replaced by the iconic rainbow flag. To Icelandic website Monitor, director of the company Ægir Már Þórisson said they wanted to “celebrate diversity”. Interestingly, he did not wish to elaborate on the question whether Pence was the reason for changing the flags.
The flags were not the only rainbow-exposure Pence had to endure: The president of Iceland wore a rainbow bracelet. This isn’t the first time he donned the accessory: it was spotted before when he met the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Mike Pence has garnered a reputation for not being the LGBT+ community’s best friend. In the past he voted in favour of anti-LGBT+ laws. Furthermore, he also omitted LGBT+ victims in his speech on World AIDS Day last year.