Streets around the world will be cked rabows this week as the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr muny celebrat LGBT Pri Month. Why...
Contents:
- WHAT DO THE RABOW MEAN FOR GAYS?
- HOW THE RABOW BEME THE SYMBOL OF GAY PRI
- SYMBOLS OF GAY AND LBIAN CULTURE
- WHAT DO LGBTQ+ STAND FOR AND WHAT DO THE RABOW GAY PRI FLAG MEAN?
WHAT DO THE RABOW MEAN FOR GAYS?
The rabow was popularized as an official symbol of the gay muny the early 1970s. Consir the two thorative nstctns of the rabow om the LGBTQ muny: 1. The first flag had eight lors, nsir the number and meang: 2. The accepted signatn for each lor of the rabow… * gay community rainbow symbol *
He was missned to create a flag by another gay in, polician Harvey Milk, for San Francis’s annual pri cisn to enlist Baker proved serendipo, as the ia of a flag to reprent the gay and lbian muny had occurred to him two years earlier. As Baker told the Mm of Morn Art durg a 2015 terview, he had been spired by the celebratns markg Ameri’s bicentennial 1976, notg that the nstant display of stars and strip ma him realize the cultural need for a siar rallyg sign for the gay muny.
And as a stgglg drag performer who was acctomed to creatg his own garments, he was well-equipped to sew the soon-to-be inic the time, the most monly ed image for the burgeong gay rights movement was the pk triangle, a symbol ed by the Nazis to intify homosexuals.
HOW THE RABOW BEME THE SYMBOL OF GAY PRI
* gay community rainbow symbol *
At the top was hot pk, which reprented sex, red for life, orange for healg, yellow signifyg sunlight, green for nature, turquoise to reprent art, digo for harmony, and fally vlet at the bottom for the help of close to 30 volunteers workg the attic of the Gay Communy Center San Francis, Baker was able to nstct the first draft of the now world-renowned rabow flag. It was first showsed at San Francis’s Gay Freedom Day Para on June 25, the sign was unveiled, participants of the para proudly waved the new symbol solidary. His legacy liv on the six-lored flag that fli proudly every Gay Pri month, regnizg the liv, and lov, of LGBT people worldwi.
As he later said an terview, “Our job as gay people was to e out, to be visible, to live the tth, as I say, to get out of the lie. The LGBT pri flag was vented 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a gay rights activist, army veteran, artist, and self-styled "gay Betsy Ross. ) He ma the flag for the Gay Freedom Pri Para that year San Francis, at the requt of Harvey Milk, a gay cy polician who was assassated later that symbol took hold immediately.
"Closeted gay people have also historilly ed bright lors to signal their homosexualy to each other, as Forrt Wickman wrote Slate. Durg the Holot, Nazis forced gay men to wear pk triangl as a symbol of sexual rabow flag was a way of takg the var lors and turng them to a herent symbol, reclaimed by the LGBT muny. As Baker told MOMA:"It was necsary to have the Rabow Flag bee up until that we had the pk triangle om the Nazis — was the symbol that they would e [to note gay people].
SYMBOLS OF GAY AND LBIAN CULTURE
Rabow Flag The rabow flag has bee the easily regnized lors of pri for the gay muny. The multicultural symbolism of the rabow is nothg new— Jse Jackson's Rabow Coaln also embrac the rabow as a symbol of that polil movement. * gay community rainbow symbol *
Judy Garland, the star of "The Wizard of Oz, " has a large followg as a gay symbol, and is famo for sgg "Somewhere Over the Rabow" the movie. Tradnally, the symbol is drawn pla black, but more recent versns pict the double mars wh the rabow lors filled to symbolize the gays’ aterny or solidary wh other subsectors of the muny. The symbol has sce been reclaimed as a symbol of Pri and remembrance of the horrors that gay men experienced Nazi Germany.
This was a practice popularized by thor Osr Wil who was openly gay and would proudly wear a green rnatn at public events.
Back the 20th century New York, gay men would wear a red necktie or bow tie or basilly any red accsory to subtly reprent their inti and help intify members of the same muny. Fortunately, after retirg at age 27, Burke ught a send wd and domated the Gay Softball World Seri where he kept the practice of givg high-fiv to his teammat.
WHAT DO LGBTQ+ STAND FOR AND WHAT DO THE RABOW GAY PRI FLAG MEAN?
Boston artists Daniel Thaxton and Bernie Toale ed a lavenr rhoceros to symbolize the gay muny for their 1970s public ad mpaign led by Gay Media Actn Advertisg.