As Mike Pence pulled up to Höfði House in Reykjavík, he was met not only by Iceland’s president, Guðni Jóhannesson, but also a row of rainbow flags. An office block belonging to the IT company Advania opposite the historic building had changed its flags on the morning of the US vice-president’s visit. “We just felt the need to celebrate diversity today and wanted to show that by flying the flags,” Ægir Már Þórisson, the company’s director, told the Icelandic news website Monitor. Another office nearby, the headquarters for the Efling trade union, had also switched the flags on its masts for Pride ones. Pence, who describes himself as “a born-again, evangelical Catholic,” has previously supported anti-LGBT policies, including opposing the repeal of a law that prevented openly gay people from serving in the US military.