The rainbow flag It is one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. With 4 decades in tow it goes beyond national borders and unites people from all countries. It is a beautiful image that filled the void felt by members of the gay community at the end of the 20th century of a recognizable symbol. Join us to discover Why the Rainbow is the LGBT flag, what each color means and the variations it suffered since it became an international symbol.
Why the Rainbow is the LGBT flag
When people see the LGBT flag knows that those calls decades ago "gay colors" symbolize a movement that knows no borders and that remains harshly persecuted and repressed in many countries of the world. In Supercurioso we are interested in what happened in Italy during the Second World War on the island of San Domino and that you can read in the article A gay island created by the fascists in Italy: San Domino, and on this occasion we want to know more about the symbols that represent this group. For many members of the LGBT community the rainbow is your flag because their colors represent diversity and freedom, uniting them in a symbol that makes them proud.
History of the LGBT Flag.
Although we have already discussed the history of the LGBT Flag in the article " What is the origin of the gay flag? "We offer you a summary: it was popularized as a symbol of gay pride in 1978 by the American artist born in San Francisco, Gilbert Baker. According to the historians Baker could be inspired by the flags of 5 colors of the universities, that represented the universal brotherhood, or perhaps it was a tribute to Judy Garland, one of the first gay icons, that sang in the film " The Wizard of Oz " the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". The flag caused enthusiasm from the first time that it left in San Francisco in the 1978 parade, little by little it was extended and finally it was adopted like symbol of the LGBT community of the whole world.
Rainbow Flag and the meaning of its colors
The colors of the rainbow flag they are related to various aspects of life with which members of the LGBT collective want to identify themselves. The two colors that were removed from the rainbow flag Original are aquamarine or sea green and pink. The aquamarine or sea green had been initially included because it was the color that represented homosexuality during the Victorian era and rose was the color that were forced to wear men condemned by homosexuals and taken to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany . In the original flag they were given a simpler meaning and the rose symbolized sex and the green sea or turquoise blue magic or art.
The pink color disappeared the first apparently due to the scarcity of fabric of that tone with which the first rainbow flags were sewn with the gay colors in San Francisco . The flag was left with seven colors, which represented a problem when hanging from the street lamps as the central color was invisible behind the stick, the solution was to reduce the number of colors and expand the width of the bands. The next color that fell was the green sea, aquamarine or for some turquoise, which symbolized the Victorian homosexuals. Finally, the 6 colors of the LGBT flag that we all know: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. In some groups the purple is changed to black as a sign of mourning by community members who have died of AIDS.
- The color red symbolizes life.
- The color orange symbolizes health.
- The yellow color symbolizes sunlight.
- The green color symbolizes nature.
- The blue color symbolizes harmony.
- The purple color symbolizes the spirit.
The first victory of the Gay Colors
The first step for the rainbow flag it was known by all the society and not only by the gay community it was with the triumph in the courts of the Stout case. John Stout had hung on the balcony of his apartment in West Hollywood, California, a LGBT flag and the owners of the house tried to stop him. John sued them and won the case that was followed by the entire American press.
Inclusion of the letter lambda and the pink triangle in the LGBT flag
Sometimes the lambda letter is added to the LGBT flag . The origin of this fact is in the homosexual activists of the Alliance of New York that in 1970 they chose this letter as a symbol, since it was easily confused with the symbology of the university fraternities and did not attract the attention of the majority of the population. In addition, the letter lambda means freedom and for the Spartans of ancient Greece it was a symbol of unity. Although the New York association disappeared, the lyrics survived and are sometimes included in the rainbow flag .
As we mentioned earlier, homosexuals who were captured by the Nazis and taken to concentration camps were forced to wear a pink triangle on their clothes. They were one of the groups most harassed and punished by Nazism as well as being victims of innumerable medical experiments. In memory of all of them, although the pink color fell from the rainbow flag , in many cases a pink triangle is placed on it. The pink triangle is also the symbol of other LGBT associations.
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Images: rt69 on flickr.com , Fibonacci