Rainbow flag
There are a multitude of symbols that the LGBTQ community uses to gather together, spread activism, and indicate to others who is a member of the community and who is an ally. There are many different types of flags within the LGBTQ community. There are flags for pansexual people, agender people, transgender people, bisexuals, gay people, lesbians, and straight people. But the flag that the United States and the world is most familiar with is the rainbow flag. Under the rainbow flag, all LGBTQ organizations, communities, and events have rallied together in a show of solidarity. But how did the rainbow flag come to be a gay pride symbol? What does it represent?
Why was the rainbow chosen as a symbol of the gay community?
A rainbow flag has been used for different purposes throughout history. Some posters and movements use it as a symbol of resistance, while other people used it to represent a certain period of history.
There were no rainbow flags present at the first gay pride parade in the United States for at least seven years. They were many different symbols used from the 1920s to the 1960s Battle of gay people to rally under symbols to come together and form communities and social circles. However, none of the symbols were flags. The gay pride rainbow flag was created in 1978 by an artist named Gilbert Baker. Baker was a gay man who also participated in drag. They could have chosen many different symbols to represent the LGBTQ community, but he decided to use a flag because he thought that flags were powerful symbols. A flag was meant to be visible from all directions and had immediate meaning to anyone who looked at it. If gay people were going to be accepted, they had to be as visible as possible in every aspect of society.
Baker did not decide to make a symbol all on his own. He was actually asked to create an all-encompassing symbol for the gay community by a U.S. politician named Harvey Milk. Harvey Milk was an openly gay politician in the United States government. He wanted a single solitary symbol for the entire gay community so it could be used throughout the United States and by the gay communities around the world.
What does the (new) rainbow flag symbolize?
Some people believe that the rainbow flag is used as a symbol of the LGBTQ community because of how bright and flashy it is. But that was not the reasoning behind at all. Gilbert Baker decided to use a rainbow to signify the eight different parts of life that are important to gay people. Pay attention: Gilber Bakers's flag has 8 colors - not 6. Each color corresponds to a part of life:
- Turquoise is for arts and expression
- Green is for nature and that gay existence is natural and not corrupt.
- Yellow is for the sunlight or a symbol for being open and not in hiding
- Pink is for sex
- Orange is for healing from pain
- Indigo is for harmony
- Violet is for the spirit
- Red is for life and living
These were the colors that were originally used in Gilbert Baker's first design. However, when it came time to create the rainbow flag mass production, Baker decided to alter the flag and reduce its eight colors down to six. Pink and turquoise were removed and replaced with blue.
Opponents of the rainbow flag
As many people already know, one of the biggest controversies about the rainbow flag is that the rainbow is both a symbol of the LGBT symbol in the Christian Community. These two communities have always been at odds, and many Christians do not feel that LGBTQ people should be allowed in their churches. Different Christian denominations complain and say that the LGBTQ people have hijacked the rainbow flag to get back at God. To Christians, the rainbow is an important symbol of God's promise to never flood the earth again. However, gay activists have stated over and over again that the rainbow and the rainbow flag have nothing to do with Christianity. The rainbow is a symbol, and this is just another way to use the rainbow. Suppose you were to type "rainbow flag" into a search engine at any time. In that case, you'd find at least one news story about a pastor or another Christian-based religious leader denouncing the LGBTQ community and their use of the rainbow. However, some churches that welcome gays and transgender people use the rainbow flag to represent their openness and acceptance.
Other uses for the rainbow flag
Because there are so many different smaller subsets of communities in the LGBTQ community, sometimes the rainbow flag is altered by the people it is representing. When AIDS was taking its toll on the gay community, a black stripe was added to either the top or bottom of the pride flag as a form of protest against the government's terrible policies. In the last ten years of the 2010s, a light blue, white, and light pink stripe is sometimes added to indicate the struggles transgender people are going through. When there are minority groups facing extra discrimination because they are gay, lesbian, or trans, activists add a black or brown stripe to the bottom of the flag.
Conclusion
The LGBTQ community has made great strides and is now accepted by many different parts of the world. They fought for their acceptance by adopting symbols that the community and their allies could rally under. The rainbow flag is one of these symbols and is the most famous symbol. While some pastors and churches do not like the rainbow flag being used as a gay symbol, it is not their symbol to control and monitor, and any person and community can use the rainbow as they see fit. LGBTQ rights and acceptance are spreading into more conservative parts worldwide, and we will see the rainbow flag in these areas over time. Since the pride flag is a symbol of so many different non-cisgender, non-heterosexual communities, they can alter the flag, so it represents them and their struggles.