1. Thank you for explaining the context. I know very little about the state of Missouri (one of the square ones in the middle?) but the Portland 'All Lives Matter' analogy was very clear and I see now why the controversy erupted.

2. Hard agree. Flags are never politically neutral, however ubiquitous they may appear to be, and wherever they may be displayed. I know in the United States displaying the Stars and Stripes on one's car and outside one's home is more of 'a thing' than it is in the UK, but there are still very much stereotypes around the kind of person who would do so, and what other political beliefs such people might possess (which is to say, the wrong ones). An MP resigned from her shadow cabinet position after tweeting a snide picture of a house bedecked with England flags (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿) and a white van on the driveway. In the wake of Brexit, too, anyone or anything with Union Jack (🇬🇧) or England flag branding is seen to be pandering to racist, xenophobic Brexit voters, and such people are often called 'flag-shaggers'. It is an irony lost on most people that those who throw the term 'flag-shagger' around with most relish often have an EU (🇪🇺) or pride flag in their Twitter Bio.

3. It's tricky. While I believe that teachers shouldn't have to be closeted about their sexuality, I firmly believe that teachers' personal lives should be left at the school gates, whatever form they might take. I don't need to hear about Miss White's divorce, or Mr Lewis's problems with his son, any more than I need to hear about Mr Wallis's woke credentials. Shut up and tell me about Churchill. (Or Robert E Lee or whoever)

4. I haven't really seen much homophobia within the GC 'movement' but outside this forum I don't really engage with the 'movement' or use social media. I don't use Reddit or Twitter or Instagram of what have you, but I have no doubt that there are homophobes lurking.

5. I was looking for the pride flag emoji to include in a devastatingly witty comment on here, and my usual place for such things is Emojipedia (owned by the same people who own dictionary.com and, consequently, super woke). I typed 'pride' into the search bar, and the trans flag (which is called simply 'Transgender Flag') appears before the pride ('Rainbow Flag') in the list. I won't get my tinfoil hat out just yet but I doubt that was a coincidence.

Edit: Missouri isn't a square one in the middle, but those states are nearby. So, half a point I think.