Rainbow Flag
The rainbow flag has become the easily recognized
colors of pride for the gay community. The multicultural
symbolism of the rainbow is nothing new -- Jesse Jackson's Rainbow
Coalition also embraces the rainbow as a symbol of that political
movement. The rainbow also plays a part in many myths and stories
related to gender and sexuality issues in Greek, Native American,
African, and other cultures.
Use of the rainbow flag by the gay community began
in 1978 when it first appeared in the San Francisco Gay and
Lesbian Freedom Day Parade. Borrowing symbolism from the hippie
movement and black civil rights groups, San Francisco artist
Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag in response to a need for
a symbol that could be used year after year. Baker and thirty
volunteers hand stitched and hand dyed two huge prototype flags
for the parade. The flags had eight stripes, each color
representing a component of the community: hot pink for sex, red
for life, orange for healing, yellow for sun, green for nature,
turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. The
next year Baker approached San Francisco Paramount Flag Company to
mass-produce rainbow flags for the 1979 parade. Due to production
constraints -- such as the fact that hot pink was not a
commercially available color -- pink and turquoise were removed
from the design, and royal blue replaced indigo. This six color
version spread from San Francisco to other cities, and soon became
the widely known symbol of gay pride and diversity it is today.
It is even officially recognized by the
International Congress of Flag Makers. In 1994, a huge
30-foot-wide by one-mile-long rainbow flag was carried by 10,000
people in New York's Stonewall 25 Parade.
The Victory Over AIDS Flag
The Victory Over AIDS Flag modifies the rainbow
flag by adding a black stripe at the bottom. Suggested by a San
Francisco group, the black stripe commemorates those we have lost
to AIDS. Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a much-decorated Vietnam
Veteran dying of AIDS, proposed that when a cure is eventually
found the black stripes should be removed from all the flags and
ceremoniously burned in Washington, D.C.
The History of the Bi Pride Flag
by Michael Page
The first Bi Pride Flag was unveiled on Dec 5,
1998. The intent and purpose of the flag is to maximize bisexual
pride and visibility.
As a result of volunteer work I was doing for
BiNet USA, it occurred to me that if bi-people were going to be
visible at pride events and political rallies, we needed a Bi
Pride Flag. At that time, there were, in my opinion, no suitable
bisexual icons that were colorful or prominent enough to gain
instant and long lasting recognition as a flag. At the time, there
were bi angles - an inverted double triangle, the bi symbol - a 3
looped symbol created by Amazon Woman and various shaped symbols
created to represent local groups of bi people.
There is no question that bi people have helped
foster the gay and lesbian movement we have witnessed since the
Stonewall riots of 1969. One problem for bisexuals remains their
invisibility. This was also a problem for gays and lesbians prior
to 1969 as very few were willing to "come out".
In 1978, Gilbert Baker of San Francisco, who I
personally met in Italy at World Pride 2000, created the Rainbow
Flag. Each color held it's own meaning and was intended to
represent diversity of the gay and lesbian community. The
effective mass visibility of this icon is indisputable.
In designing the Bi Pride Flag, I selected the
colors and overlap pattern of the bi angles symbol. I selected,
which to me, is the most attractive combination of pink, purple
and blue. In flag-maker parlance this is magenta, lavender and
royal. I decided to make the top of the flag
pink and would give it 40% of the horizontal
dimension.
Purple, which is the resultant color when you
overlap pink and blue, would be the middle stripe and would be 20%
of the dimension. The lower 40% would be blue. The pink color
represents same sex attraction (gay and lesbian), the
blue represents attraction to the opposite sex (straight) and the
resultant overlap color purple represents sexual attraction to
both (bi). The key to understanding the symbolism of the Bi Pride
Flag is to know that the purple pixels of color
blend unnoticeably into both the pink and blue just as in the
"real world" where bi people blend unnoticeably into both the
gay/lesbian and straight communities.
The Bi Pride Flag is the only bisexual symbol that
is not patented, trademarked or service marked. In it's short
history, the Bi Pride Flag has been visible in many important GLBT
events world-wide.
The Bear Pride Flag
THE INTERNATIONAL BEAR BROTHERHOOD FLAG (© 1995 VA
763-760) Craig Byrnes, Bear Manufacturing, was designed with
inclusivity in mind and represents the fur colors and
nationalities of bears throughout the world. It is presented to
the bear community with love and
gratitude. —
Craig Byrnes
The Bear Pride Flag is a symbol used by some
"bears," gay men marked by an abundance of hair on their face,
chest, and body. Bears also tend to be older, and perhaps larger
or chubby. This most recent addition to the gay pride flags
attempts to combine several symbols from the bear community.
Pink Triangle
The pink triangle is easily one of the more
popular and widely- recognized symbols for the gay community. The
pink triangle is rooted in World War II times, and reminds us of
the tragedies of that era. Although homosexuals were only one of
the many groups targeted for extermination by the Nazi regime, it
is unfortunately the group that
history often excludes. The pink triangle
challenges that notion, and defies anyone to deny history.
The history of the pink triangle begins before
WWII, during Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Paragraph 175, a clause
in German law prohibiting homosexual relations, was revised by
Hitler in 1935 to include kissing, embracing, and gay fantasies as
well as sexual acts. Convicted offenders -- an estimated 25000
just from 1937 to 1939 -- were sent to prison and then later to
concentration camps. Their sentence was to be sterilized, and this
was most often accomplished by castration. In 1942 Hitler's
punishment for homosexuality was extended to death.
Each prisoner in the concentration camps wore a colored inverted
triangle to designate their reason for incarceration, and hence
the designation also served to form a sort of social hierarchy
among the prisoners. A green triangle marked its wearer as a
regular criminal; a red triangle denoted a political prisoner. Two
yellow triangles overlapped to form a Star of David designated a
Jewish prisoner. The pink triangle was for homosexuals. A yellow
Star of David under a superimposed pink triangle marked the lowest
of all prisoners -- a gay Jew.
Stories of the camps depict homosexual prisoners
being given the worst tasks and labors. Pink triangle prisoners
were also a proportionally large focus of attacks from the guards
and even other inmates. Although the total number of the
homosexual prisoners is not known, official Nazi estimates were an
under whelming 10,000.
Although homosexual prisoners reportedly were not
shipped en masse to the death camps at Auschwitz, a great number
of gay men were among the non-Jews who were killed there.
Estimates of the number of gay men killed during the Nazi regime
range from 50,000 to twice that figure. When the war was finally
over, countless many homosexuals remained prisoners in the camps,
because Paragraph 175 remained law in West Germany until its
repeal in 1969.
In the 1970's, gay liberation groups resurrected
the pink triangle as a popular symbol for the gay rights movement.
Not only is the symbol easily recognized, but it draws attention
to oppression and persecution -- then and now. In the 1980's,
ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power) began using the pink
triangle for their cause. They inverted the symbol, making it
point up, to signify an active fight back rather than a passive
resignation to fate. Today, for many, the pink triangle represents
pride, solidarity, and a promise to never allow another Holocaust
to happen again.
THE BLACK TRIANGLE
Like the pink triangle, the black triangle is also
rooted in Nazi Germany. Although lesbians were not included in the
Paragraph 175 prohibition of homosexuality, there is evidence to
indicate that the black triangle was used to designate prisoners
with anti-social behavior. Considering that the Nazi idea of
womanhood focused on children, kitchen, and church, black triangle
prisoners may have included lesbians, prostitutes, women who
refused to bear children, and women with other "anti-social"
traits. As the pink triangle is historically a male symbol, the
black triangle has similarly been reclaimed by lesbians and
feminists as a symbol of pride and solidarity.
LAMBDA
The lambda symbol seems to be one of the most
controversial of symbols in regards to its meaning. There are
several differing opinions as to why the lambda was chosen as a
gay symbol and what it really means. However, most sources agree
on a few things:
The lambda was first chosen as a gay symbol when
it was adopted in 1970 by the New York Gay Activists Alliance. It
became the symbol of their growing movement of gay liberation. In
1974, the lambda was subsequently adopted by the International Gay
Rights Congress held in Edinburgh, Scotland. As their symbol for
lesbian and gay rights, the lambda became internationally popular.
But where history ends, speculation begins. No one
seems to have a definitive answer why the lambda was originally
chosen as a gay symbol. Some suggest that it is simply the Greek
lower-case letter L for liberation. Others disagree, citing the
use of lambda in physics to denote energy (the energy we have when
we work in concert) or wavelength (are gays and lesbians on a
different wavelength?). Lambda may also denote the synergy of the
gay movement, the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of
its parts. The lambda also may represent scales and balance, and
the constant force that keeps opposing sides from overcoming each
other -- the hook at the bottom of the right leg signifies the
action needed to reach and maintain balance. The ancient Greek
Spartans regarded the lambda to mean unity, while the Romans
considered it "the light of knowledge shed into the darkness of
ignorance."
Whatever the exact meaning and origin, the lambda
originally embodied a fairly militant connotation. Today, the
symbol generally denotes lesbian's and gay men's concerns
together. Although the lambda was never intended to be linked to
any specific gender or orientation such as other symbols may be,
historically this is not so: In the early
1970's the Los Angeles gay community created a
flag with a lavender lambda on a simple white background. They
hoped the flag would catch on to other cities, but their hopes
were denied because some saw the lambda as a male symbol only.
RED RIBBON
The AIDS Awareness Ribbon, or red ribbon, is
commonly seen adorning jacket lapels and other articles of
clothing as a symbol of solidarity and a commitment to the fight
against AIDS.
The Ribbon Project was conceived in 1991 by Visual
AIDS, a New York- based charity group of art professionals that
aims to recognize and honor friends and colleagues who have died
or are dying of AIDS. Visual AIDS encourages arts organizations,
museums, commercial galleries, and AIDS support groups to
commemorate those lost to AIDS, to create greater awareness of
AIDS/HIV transmission, to publicize the needs of Persons with
AIDS, and to call for greater funding of services and research.
Inspired by the yellow ribbons honoring American soldiers of the
Persian Gulf War, the color red was chosen for its "connection to
blood and the idea of passion -- not only anger, but love, like a
valentine," as stated by Frank Moore of Visual AIDS.
Worn by host Jeremy Irons, the ribbon made its
public debut at the 1991 Tony Awards, and soon became a popular
and politically correct fashion statement for celebrities and
other awards ceremonies. Because of this popularity, some
activists worry that the ribbon has become simple lip service to
AIDS causes; in one particular incident the First Lady Barbara
Bush wore a red ribbon while sitting in the audience with her
husband, but when she stood at the President's side during his
speech, her ribbon was conspicuously missing.
However, the Ribbon Project remains a powerful
force in spreading awareness of AIDS and stressing the need for
further action and research of the disease. The sincerest hope for
the Ribbon Project is that it will one day no longer be needed.
Pink Ribbon
Inspired by the red ribbon, the pink ribbon became
the symbol for breast cancer awareness. Although, like AIDS,
breast cancer is certainly not an issue limited to the gay
community, the statistics of breast cancer are historically higher
in women who do not bear children. Consequently, for some lesbians
breast cancer awareness and prevention is a particularly important
issue.
LABRYS
The labrys is a double-sided hatchet or axe
commonly used in ancient European, African, and Asian matriarchal
societies as both a weapon and a harvesting tool. Greek artwork
depicts the Amazon armies of Europe wielding labrys weapons.
Amazons ruled with a dual-queen system in which one queen was in
charge of the army and battle, and the other queen stayed behind
to administer the conquered cities. Amazons were known to be
ferocious and merciless in battle, but once victorious they ruled
with justice. Today, the labrys is a lesbian and feminist symbol
of strength and self-sufficiency.
In addition, the labrys also played a part in
ancient mythology. Demeter, the goddess of the earth, used a
labrys as her scepter. Rites associated with the worship of the
Demeter, as well as Hecate (the goddess of the underworld), are
believed to have involved lesbian sex.
THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national
lesbian and gay political organization, envisions an America where
lesbian and gay people are ensured of their basic equal rights --
and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the
community. HRC has more than 360,000 members, both gay and non-gay
-- all committed to making this vision a reality.
http://www.hrc.org