There are several differing opinions as to why the lambda was chosen as a gay symbol and what it really means. The lambda symbol seems to be one of the most controversial of symbols in regards to its meaning. Until we had a flag, the symbol for our movement was the pink triangle, which was put on us by Hitler and the Nazis, Baker told. It’s a lower case lambda (''), as the upper case looks like an 'A' without the horizontal stroke. "It was really important for me to have a historic one," Meyer said. "It was more accurate to what was designed back then. Baker knew the symbol for pride had to be the rainbow. While Meyer said she has multiple rainbow-themed items in her house and office, she wants the flag she flies outside her home to be the original design. Tracie Meyer works on the board of directors of C-FAIR, the Political Action Committee of the Fairness Campaign. In 1979 it was modified again, removing the turquoise stripe, according to Baker's website. Page describes the meaning of the pink, lavender, and blue flag as this: The pink color represents sexual attraction to the same sex only (gay and lesbian). Baker did the same to his production of the flag. He aimed to increase visibility towards the bisexual community, because bi-erasure is a real thing and is arguable just as big a problem then as it is now. Popularity spiked again a decade later when a West Hollywood resident sued his landlord over the right to hang his flag outside his residence.Pride Month: What does LGBTQIA mean? And more answers to your Pride questions Historic pride flagĪrtist and veteran Gilbert Baker was asked by activist Harvey Milk to create an emblem for the empowerment of LGBTQ people, according to Baker's website.īaker's original flag included eight colored stripes, each with a different meaning: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for serenity and purple for spirit.įollowing the assassination of Milk in 1978, the demand for pride flags went up, and the Paramount Flag Company removed hot pink from the fabric because it was too expensive, according to Baker's website. Michael Page designed the bisexual pride flag in 1998 to give the bisexual community a symbol that was comparable to the gay pride rainbow flag. After the assassination of Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978, demand for the rainbow banner only increased. Baker then took the design to Paramount Flag Company, which sold a version of the flag without hot pink and turquoise, which were replaced with blue for practicality purposes.
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It was first showcased at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978.Īfter the design was unveiled, participants of the parade proudly waved the new symbol in solidarity. With the help of close to 30 volunteers working in the attic of the Gay Community Center in San Francisco, Baker was able to construct the first draft of the now world-renowned rainbow flag. At the top was hot pink, which represented sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow signifying sunlight, green for nature, turquoise to represent art, indigo for harmony, and finally violet at the bottom for spirit. The multicolored flag has united the LGBTQ community for over 40 years, and though it remains a universal symbol of pride, liberation didn't always come in vibrant technicolor. The gay rights movement in the United States has seen huge progress in the last century. The many facets of the LGBTQ community When you think about symbols of the LGBTQ community, the rainbow-colored pride flag probably comes to mind right away.
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The original flag featured eight colors, each having a different meaning. Bisexual Pride Flag color meanings: Magenta stripe: attraction to the same gender only. Nowadays, the downward-pointing pink triangle is a symbol of self-identity, freedom, and pride. The different colors within the flag were meant to represent togetherness, since LGBT people come in all races, ages and genders, and rainbows are both natural and beautiful. The inverted pink triangle, a symbol reclaimed from WWII, was used to identify gay men in concentration camps.