What The Lesbian Pride Flag Means And Where It Comes From?
June month is widely recognized as LGBTQ Pride Month right since the Stonewall riots that happened in June 1969 in New York City. During this month, the rainbow flag is proudly displayed in different parts of the country as a symbol of the long-term movement against LGTBQ rights. But, some of you might be interested to step deeper into the story and know how this rainbow flag turned out to be the LGBTQ pride. Well, the article below may guide you better with enhanced knowledge about the lesbian pride flag.
All this started in the year 1978 when a drag queen and gay man, Gilbert Baker, designed the first most rainbow flag. However, Baker later stated that he was influenced by Harvey Milk, an openly elected gay official in the country, to design this symbol of pride to support the gay community. Later baker decided to use this symbol as a flag because he felt that the flag can work as a more powerful symbol of pride. In an interview, he also stated that gay people need to come out to become more live and visible. A flag can suit this mission more accurately while defining the visibility of the entire community, he added.
Baker defined a rainbow as a natural flag; he used all eight colors from the sky to create stripes of pride flag where each color presented a unique meaning. The Violet color in this flag represents the spirit, indigo is linked to harmony; however, turquoise is associated with art. Other than this, green color stood for nature, yellow for sunlight, orange for healing, red for life, and hot pink for sex.
The first most version of this Lesbian pride bisexual flag was flown in the year 1978 on 25th June during the Gay Freedom Day parade in San Francisco. Baker and his team made those flags by hand. However, after this event, they wanted to start mass production of these flags for easy consumption by all interested candidates. However, later the turquoise and pink stripes were removed from the flag due to some production issues; furthermore, the indigo color was also replaced by simple blue. Ultimately, the Lesbian pride flag came out to be a six-striped flag with violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red colors. Even today, this is the widely accepted variant of the rainbow flag where red color is kept on the top of the flag. The different colors included in this flag are indicators of the unity and diversity of the LGBTQ community.
In 1994, the rainbow flag was finally established as a symbol of pride for the LGBTQ community. In the same year, Baker designed a one-mile-long, large version of the rainbow flag to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Right after this, the rainbow flag received international acceptance and is now proudly flown on various occasions around the world.
It is common to find many other pride flags also in the history of the LGBTQ community. They were used at different times to depict unique messages. However, the flag designed by Baker received international acceptance and became a true symbol of the pride of the LGBT community. Some experts have also designed a pink-purple flag very recently in the year 2018; however, its updated version included shades of orange with specific meaning at each level. The main goal of LGBTQ communities to use flags is to symbolize their unity and integrity. However, they keep on spreading various other messages also by addition and removal of different colors in the rainbow flag.
The lesbian Pride flag holds great significance in the life of every lesbian and people who are always determined to support these communities. Moreover, it is possible to find many potential roots in the rainbow flag. People refer to different colors with special meanings and the designs are adopted by lesbian communities and activists around the world for several reasons. Recently, lavender and purple colors have received more significance in a modified lesbian flags. People keep on showing their enthusiasm to support the lesbian community with their unique efforts and color representations.