Gay Activists Visiting White House Take Photos of Themselves Flipping Off Reagan Portrait

Editor's note: You can watch a Blaze webcast about this story by clicking here.

Update: White House Rebukes Activists Who Flipped Off Reagan Portrait: ‘Behavior Like This Doesn’t Belong Anywhere’

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:

From phillymag.com:

Last Friday, an attaché of important gay people from Philadelphia made a trip to Washington D.C. as invited guests of President Barack Obama for the White House’s first-ever gay pride reception....some of them took advantage of photo opportunities to give the late President Ronald Reagan the middle finger

“It’s not a gesture that I would use in the White House when representing our city and our community,” 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 “Matty” Hart (left), the national director of public engagement at Solutions for Progress, and self-taught photographer turned toast-of-the-town Zoe Strauss (right).

[…]

But his counterparts couldn’t seem to care less. Hart posted his photo on Facebook with the caption, “F--k Reagan.” [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 “you forgot to add with a chainsaw” on Hart’s “F--k Reagan” note, to my personal favorite, “star wars … up yours,” on Strauss’s.

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]:

Strauss posted a second one on her blog with the comment: "Me and LB making out under a portrait of Reagan at the White House. That was amazing."

Neither Hart nor Strauss responded to The Blaze's requests for comment about the photos.

Strauss refused to speak to Philadelphia Magazine about the photos, reportedly texting that she was "keeping out of the press!" Hart, however, repeated his "f--k Reagan" epithet to the publication:

"Yeah, f--k Reagan,” reiterates Hart one week after the reception. “Ronald 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. Don’t invite me back. I don’t care.”

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:

This post has been updated.