ICHMOND, Va. — The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond ran a rainbow flag up its flagpole last week and has been hearing about it ever since. From conservative groups who are outraged. From gay rights groups who are pleased. And from state lawmakers on both sides who just cannot seem to stop talking about it.
The bank unfurled the flag on June 1, at the request of a group of gay and lesbian employees in honor of gay pride month.
One day later, Bob Marshall, a Republican in the House of Delegates and an outspoken opponent on gay rights issues, was moved to write a letter to the bank’s president, saying that the flag was inappropriate for a quasi-governmental entity.
Gay and lesbian “behavior,” he wrote, “undermines the American economy, shortens lives, adds significantly to illness, increases health costs, promotes venereal diseases,” among other things.
That prompted a series of outraged rejoinders from gay rights advocates, including Adam Ebbin, a gay lawmaker from Northern Virginia who said that despite Mr. Marshall’s views, things had “gotten better for L.G.B.T. Virginians.”
In many ways, the controversy mirrors the changing demographics of this fast-growing state, whose traditions and habits are mixing with an influx of immigrants and young professionals in the northern part of the state.
Jim Strader, a spokesman for the bank, said the bank had fielded hundreds of phone calls and as many e-mails about the flag. The flag, he said, symbolizes “values of being open and inclusive,” and shows that the bank is “a place that doesn’t discriminate.”
That is important in Virginia, said James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia, because House Republicans have twice blocked a bill that would protect state employees from discrimination by sexual orientation.
Rainbows, which festoon entire neighborhoods in some cities during gay pride month, are hard to spot in Richmond, and Mr. Parrish said the flag outside the bank was “noticeable.”
“This is not Greenwich Village or Hell’s Kitchen,” he said.
One of the most popular arguments by the flag’s opponents was that the bank is a government institution and so should not be displaying a flag that promotes a cause. And now that they are, the argument goes, they have an obligation to other causes.
“We hope there would be an even hand played when a Christian requests the Christian flag in September during Christian Heritage month,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation, a conservative advocacy group.
Mr. Strader’s response is that the bank is in fact privately owned, as are all regional Federal Reserves, and that it considers requests by employees — this was the first one — but not the general public.
Mr. Marshall, 67, has been vocal on gay issues. He told The Washington Post last year that he was concerned gay troops would spread venereal disease. He was also a sponsor of Virginia’s ban on gay marriage.
Mr. Strader said the bank “anticipates” that it will respond to Mr. Marshall’s letter. Meanwhile, Mr. Marshall has written an opinion article that he said is scheduled to run on Sunday in The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
“I am sure this flag and or Fed story will not end here,” he said.
