Badg, Buttons and Ps – A Gay Man's Story Snapshots

Contents:

• PRI FLAGS 101: EVERYTHG YOU'VE EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT GAY, TRANS, AND OTHER PRI FLAGS
• WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GAY MEN’S PRI FLAG, AND WHAT DO IT MEAN?
• A GAY MAN'S STORY SNAPSHOTS

PRI FLAGS 101: EVERYTHG YOU'VE EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT GAY, TRANS, AND OTHER PRI FLAGS

Before the rabow-striped Pri flag was created, the LGBTQ+ muny tend to e the pk triangle as a symbol, adapted om the badge that gay prisoners were forced to wear Nazi ncentratn mps. Durg World War II, Nazis forced gay men mps to wear a downward-potg triangle, wh around 100, 000 timated to have been held prisoner and 65, 000 thought to have been killed.

Lambda reprents energy and balance, and was primarily ed by the Gay Activists Alliance the 1970s. Green rnatns first appeared when Osr Wil adopted them for his entourage the late purple hand n be traced back to a prott 1969: After the San Francis Examer prted a homophobic report on gay bars, lols protted outsi the paper’s offic.

There, he beiend Milk, who challenged him to create a symbol for what was then more monly lled the gay muny. Baker and a iend named Lynn Segerblom, also known as Faerie Argyle Rabow, veloped a rabow versn that had eight lors, wh a hot pk stripe later removed bee was difficult to was often lled the “Gay Pri Flag” at first, ’s now e to reprent a much broar muny than jt gay men. “Gay” as a tch-all term for anythg genr-nonnformg is a fast-vanishg vtige of the years, the rabow-striped Pri flag me to be thought of as the sole in of Pri.

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GAY MEN’S PRI FLAG, AND WHAT DO IT MEAN?

8% of gay, lbian, and bisexual adolcents serly ntemplated attemptg suici. After the former Mayor of San Francis Dan Whe shot and murred Harvey Milk—who served as one of the first openly gay members of the San Francis Board of Supervisors—Baker set out to rate the Gay Freedom Day Para 1978 wh as many rabow flags as possible to brg attentn to that and several other tragedi.

A GAY MAN'S STORY SNAPSHOTS

In a world which stunts are expelled for handg out Pri flags to prott Florida's "Don't Say Gay Bill, " the need to show support for LGTBQ+ rights—publicly as well as privately—is as important as ever. Gilbert Baker Pri Flag(Image cred: Wikimedia Commons)In 1977, gay polician Harvey Milk tasked veteran Gilbert Baker to e up wh a Pri flag. Tradnal Gay Pri Flag (Image cred: Getty Imag/Norberto Cuen)This is probably the flag you'll see most often: Six lors, apparently easier to produce than the odd-numbered seven (although other reports say was more about makg the flag easier for paras and to hang on posts).

Lbian Labrys Flag(Image cred: Getty Imag/Ecelop)This flag isn't wily ed—and part of the reason may be that the flag was signed 1999 by a gay man, Sean Campbell. But the "leather flag, " created by Tony DeBlase 1989, is a symbol of that muny (which clus many gay men)—black may symbolize leather, whe is pury, blue is votn, and the heart is Brotherhood Flag(Image cred: Getty Imag/grebhkovmaxim)Craig Byrn and Pl Wzkoske 1995 ma the "bear flag" for "a subculture of mascule-prentg gay, bisexual and trans men who embrace facial and body hair and may have larger bodi. The origal pri flag was created the 1970s by gay activist Gilbert Baker, iend of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office California.