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Gay Activists Visiting White House Take Photos of Themselves Flipping Off Reagan Portrait
Jun. 22, 2012 11:50am Madeleine Morgenstern
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Editorās note: You can watch a Blaze webcast about this story by clicking here.
Update: White House Rebukes Activists Who Flipped Off Reagan Portrait: āBehavior Like This Doesnāt Belong Anywhereā
Gay activists from Philadelphia posed for pictures while giving the middle finger to a portrait of former President Ronald Reagan during a recent trip to the White House, according to Philadelphia Magazine:
Matthew "Matty" Hart, left, Mark Segal, center, and Zoe Strauss, right, pose in front of portraits of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush at the White House. (Image source: blog.phillymag.com)
From phillymag.com:
Last Friday, an attachĆ© of important gay people from Philadelphia made a trip to Washington D.C. as invited guests of President Barack Obama for the White Houseās first-ever gay pride receptionā¦.some of them took advantage of photo opportunities to give the late President Ronald Reagan the middle finger
āItās not a gesture that I would use in the White House when representing our city and our community,ā opines Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal (center), who opted for a sarcastic thumbs-up pose in front of the portrait of George W. Bush over the more vulgar one demonstrated by his Reagan-loathing peers, Matthew āMattyā Hart (left), the national director of public engagement at Solutions for Progress, and self-taught photographer turned toast-of-the-town Zoe Strauss (right).
[ā¦]
But his counterparts couldnāt seem to care less. Hart posted his photo on Facebook with the caption, āFāk Reagan.ā [Zoe] Strauss simply posted hers without commentary. After all, the murderous facial expression and double-barreled bird-flipping seem to speak for themselves. Comments ranged from āyou forgot to add with a chainsawā on Hartās āFāk Reaganā note, to my personal favorite, āstar wars ā¦ up yours,ā on Straussās.
A larger version of one photo, posted on Facebook by Zoe Strauss [update: the photo has been removed from Strauss's Facebook page but is available on her Twitter account with the caption, "F--K YOU, REAGAN!" Update II: Strauss's Twitter has also been made private]:
Image source: Facebook
Strauss posted a second one on her blog with the comment: āMe and LB making out under a portrait of Reagan at the White House. That was amazing.ā
Image source: zoestrauss.blogspot.com
Neither Hart nor Strauss responded to The Blazeās requests for comment about the photos.
Strauss refused to speak to Philadelphia Magazine about the photos, reportedly texting that she was ākeeping out of the press!ā Hart, however, repeated his āfāk Reaganā epithet to the publication:
āYeah, fāk Reagan,ā reiterates Hart one week after the reception. āRonald Reagan has blood on his hands. The man was in the White House as AIDS exploded, and he was happy to see plenty of gay men and queer people die. He was a murderous fool, and I have no problem saying so. Donāt invite me back. I donāt care.ā
The reception, which featured live music from the Marine Corps band, also saw a marriage proposal between a female-to-male transgendered person and a biological woman, according to Philadelphia Magazine. Video below, which also includes Hart:
Gay Activists Visiting White House Take Photos of Themselves Flipping Off Reagan Portrait TheBlaze.com
Gay Activists Visiting White House Take Photos of Themselves Flipping Off Reagan Portrait
Jun. 22, 2012 11:50am Madeleine Morgenstern
1.1K
SHARES
Editorās note: You can watch a Blaze webcast about this story by clicking here.
Update: White House Rebukes Activists Who Flipped Off Reagan Portrait: āBehavior Like This Doesnāt Belong Anywhereā
Gay activists from Philadelphia posed for pictures while giving the middle finger to a portrait of former President Ronald Reagan during a recent trip to the White House, according to Philadelphia Magazine:
![Gay-activists-WH-visit1-620x273.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F06%2FGay-activists-WH-visit1-620x273.jpg&hash=db75531697113f602365f16925d8b997)
Matthew "Matty" Hart, left, Mark Segal, center, and Zoe Strauss, right, pose in front of portraits of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush at the White House. (Image source: blog.phillymag.com)
From phillymag.com:
Last Friday, an attachĆ© of important gay people from Philadelphia made a trip to Washington D.C. as invited guests of President Barack Obama for the White Houseās first-ever gay pride receptionā¦.some of them took advantage of photo opportunities to give the late President Ronald Reagan the middle finger
āItās not a gesture that I would use in the White House when representing our city and our community,ā opines Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal (center), who opted for a sarcastic thumbs-up pose in front of the portrait of George W. Bush over the more vulgar one demonstrated by his Reagan-loathing peers, Matthew āMattyā Hart (left), the national director of public engagement at Solutions for Progress, and self-taught photographer turned toast-of-the-town Zoe Strauss (right).
[ā¦]
But his counterparts couldnāt seem to care less. Hart posted his photo on Facebook with the caption, āFāk Reagan.ā [Zoe] Strauss simply posted hers without commentary. After all, the murderous facial expression and double-barreled bird-flipping seem to speak for themselves. Comments ranged from āyou forgot to add with a chainsawā on Hartās āFāk Reaganā note, to my personal favorite, āstar wars ā¦ up yours,ā on Straussās.
A larger version of one photo, posted on Facebook by Zoe Strauss [update: the photo has been removed from Strauss's Facebook page but is available on her Twitter account with the caption, "F--K YOU, REAGAN!" Update II: Strauss's Twitter has also been made private]:
![Reagan-WH-Zoe-Strauss-FB.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F06%2FReagan-WH-Zoe-Strauss-FB.jpg&hash=48ff893aa0a274201ea9b56212ba16ab)
Image source: Facebook
Strauss posted a second one on her blog with the comment: āMe and LB making out under a portrait of Reagan at the White House. That was amazing.ā
![Reagan-WH-Zoe-Strauss-blogspot.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F06%2FReagan-WH-Zoe-Strauss-blogspot.jpg&hash=994438c701bac4942a7b5d379ba3fbd6)
Image source: zoestrauss.blogspot.com
Neither Hart nor Strauss responded to The Blazeās requests for comment about the photos.
Strauss refused to speak to Philadelphia Magazine about the photos, reportedly texting that she was ākeeping out of the press!ā Hart, however, repeated his āfāk Reaganā epithet to the publication:
āYeah, fāk Reagan,ā reiterates Hart one week after the reception. āRonald Reagan has blood on his hands. The man was in the White House as AIDS exploded, and he was happy to see plenty of gay men and queer people die. He was a murderous fool, and I have no problem saying so. Donāt invite me back. I donāt care.ā
The reception, which featured live music from the Marine Corps band, also saw a marriage proposal between a female-to-male transgendered person and a biological woman, according to Philadelphia Magazine. Video below, which also includes Hart:
Gay Activists Visiting White House Take Photos of Themselves Flipping Off Reagan Portrait TheBlaze.com
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