Flag This! Gay Men Symbols and Meang Behd Them - Siline Masks, Siline Mcle-Smizen

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• FLAG THIS! GAY MEN SYMBOLS AND MEANG BEHD THEM

FLAG THIS! GAY MEN SYMBOLS AND MEANG BEHD THEM

Did you know Rsian crimals the 1950s had a secret tattoo to intify gay people?The LGBTI muny has a long and varied history wh tattoos.In a time when was illegal to be out and proud Wtern culture, many LGBTI people got tattoos to nvey secret msag or as an act of fiance to thory.The days, tattoos and LGBTI culture go hand hand and ’s a trend that’s on the rise.But where did all beg and what do the hidn meangs signify?‘Bad Boys and Tough Tattoos’Acrdg to famo gay tattooist Samuel Steward (also known as Phil Sparrow), the gay muny particular really began embracg tattoos the 1950s.Steward was born 1909 and led many varied rol life, cludg a profsor at a Roman Catholic universy and an thor of gay pulp fictn.He was also the official tattoo artist for the motorcycle club, the Hells Angels Oakland, California.Steward published his thoughts on gay men gettg tattoos his 1990 book Bad Boys & Tough Tattoos: A Social History of the Tattoo wh Gangs, Sailors, and Street-Corner Punks.Steward said: ‘One change, however, me about the homosexual attu towards tattoos around 1954.’He ntued: ‘Followg the natnal release of the movie The Wild One wh Marlon Brando; the origal motorcycle film, seemed to crystallize or release, the obscure and long-hidn feelgs of many homosexuals.’Steward believ tattoos beme a symbol of masculy for gay men, closely tied wh the gay leather muny.He said: ‘I was overwhelmed by the sudn appearance of so many of the figur… as the impulse of many homosexuals to be nsired more mascule — by the addn of a tattoo — grew stronger.’There are also exampl of lbians the 1940s and 50s lerally wearg their sexualy on their sleeve by gettg a particular tattoo (but more on that later).Here are the most mon LGBTI-spired tattoos and what means to the people who got them.Note: If someone has one of the tattoos, do not mean they tomatilly intify wh the explanatns below1. Pk triangle tattooIn Nazi Germany the mid-1940s, gay prisoners ncentratn mps were forced to wearg pk triangl as a badge of shame.In fact, one scholar says the gay prisoners were the ‘lowt of the low’ the hierarchy of the ncentratn mps.Nazis tortured the gay prisoners by stratg some of them and sodomizg them wh ems like broomsticks. They also performed dangero experiments on them to fd cur for typh fever and homosexualy.Acrdg to timatns, between 5,000 and 15,000 gay people died German ncentratn mps.When eye wns acunts and personal ttimoni emerged several s later, LGBTI activists began reclaimg the symbol.The earlit acunts Ameri date back to 1977, where LGBTI activists Miami pned pk triangl to their cloth to prott hog discrimatn.In the early 80s, anizatn ACT-UP ed the pk triangle to try to raise awarens the midst of the AIDS crisis.Instead of g the upsi down triangle — as the Nazis did — activist Avram Fkelste me up wh g the right way up.The anizatn ed arguably s most famo mpaign poster: Silence = Death.Sce then, activists have ed the symbol var mpaigns sce, cludg protts last year over ncentratn mps Chechnya.The symbol went om beg a badge of shame, to a symbol of pri.How LGBTI people reclaimed the pk triangleMany LGBTI people now proudly show off their tattoo pk triangl.‘I got after the Pulse nightclub shootg Florida,’ Nick McGlynn told Gay Star News.

‘At the time, really brought home the physil vlence that’s still directed at queer people.‘I was angry and I wanted to have my queerns permanently wrten on my body as a “fuck you” to the fear of beg visibly queer public,’ he said.McGlynn is a teacher and says his pk triangle tattoo isn’t as obvly gay as a rabow flag, so his stunts often ask him about .‘It giv me an opportuny to say out loud public that I’m a gay man,’ he said.Greg Baillie got his pk triangle tattoo on his wrist so he n hi unr his watch if he ever feels unsafe.He said: ‘I got to feel like part of a muny whilst rememberg the horror that had befted some that had went before.Jeff Ingold wanted to make his triangle tattoo special so he got a triangle outle, wh the date he me out the middle.He said: ‘I got this tattoo to remember all those who me before me, who fought and died for our rights and also, to place myself that history.’Ingold ntued: ‘Along wh that, my dad once told me he wished I didn’t wear my sexualy on my sleeve so much.’So he got on his arm fiance.‘This is who I am, this is my history and I won’t be ashamed of showg off,’ he add.Bisexual people also have a versn of the pk triangle wh a blue triangle lked.2. For this reason, the tattoo was always on the wrist where uld hi behd a wristwatch.The ntil star is now hugely popular among LGBTI people, cludg a lot of gay porn stars.As well as beg a mon tattoo for sailors ( symboliz sailors tryg to fd their way home), the ntil star also pots to prostutn some circl.3. Srpn/Bhazard tattooIn 2011, CNN published a piece om a gay man who is HIV+.In the piece, Michael Lee Howard says he got the bhazard symbol on his right arm and the radiatn symbol on his left to dite that he’s livg wh HIV.After his diagnosis 2005, Howard said he got the tattoos to help him on his journey of self-acceptance.He said: ‘It’s a brandg of who I am, and ’s a brandg of beg fortable wh that, beg fortable wh who I am.’Another tattoo listed the article as a signifier for someone livg wh HIV is the srpn.

This one is more tricky bee the srpn tattoo is also closely associated wh astrology.Gay man William Conley said he also knows 45–60 others who got the bhazard and srpn symbols tattooed on their body.In rponse to the article, chief executive of GMFA Matthew Hodson warned was only a small mory of gay men gettg the tattoos.He said: ‘The problem wh any d reference to HIV stat is that may not be universally unrstood, so even if you have a great big b-hazard tattoo across your butt-cheeks, don’t necsarily mean that everyone you have sex wh is gog to unrstand what means.‘Most people wh HIV don’t tell all of their sexual partners.‘And although some gay men choose to k their stat, fierce and unapologetic, on their sk, the majory of don’t,’ he said.4.