Today, there are even more pride flags out there. As you can see, the rainbow flag has a long and storied. The emergence of a rainbow is considered by many to be a sign of good luck. Time reported in 2015 that the rainbow flag is the official flag for the micronation of the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands, a small group of islands unofficially declared a republic in 2004 by a group of Australian activists protesting for marriage equality. The rainbow is also a symbol used in film or literature to signify the promise of better times ahead and is used for dramatic effect towards the end of these fictional plots. Here are the meanings behind the colors in the current pride flag: The rainbow, therefore, acts as a symbol of God’s promise to humankind. The blue that replaced the indigo now symbolizes harmony.
Baker dropped yet another stripe, which resulted in the six-stripe version of the flag we use most often today-red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. According to Baker's estate, that was because when it was hung vertically from the lamp posts of San Francisco's Market Street, the center stripe (turquoise) was obscured by the similarly-colored lamp post itself. As excerpted on the website for his estate, Gilbert's memoir, Rainbow Warrior, includes his memory of deciding to make the rainbow flag: The trio encouraged Baker to create a positive emblem for the LGBTQIA+ community.īaker agreed and he looked to his community for inspiration, specifically those dancing at San Francisco's music venue Winterland Ballroom one night. In the late '70s, Baker was living in San Francisco when he met writer Cleve Jones, filmmaker Artie Bressan, and rising activist Harvey Milk. The First Rainbow FlagĮnter: Gilbert Baker, the man who would create the first rainbow pride flag. Still, activists recognized the need for a more empowering symbol. "Gay people wear the pink triangle today as a reminder of the past and a pledge that history will not repeat itself," read one 1977 letter to the editor in Time. In the late 1970s, the pink triangle was somewhat reclaimed by the gay community. Throughout the Holocaust, the Nazis forced those whom they labeled as gay to wear inverted pink triangle badges, just as they forced Jewish people to wear a yellow Star of David. This triangle, however, had a loaded, anti-gay history. However, because of production issues, the pink and turquoise stripes were removed and indigo was replaced by basic blue, which resulted in the contemporary six-striped flag (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet).Before the rainbow pride flag was created, there was another symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community: a pink triangle. In the LGBT version of the rainbow flag, each color has a different meaning: Red = Life. Regarding this, what does each color of the rainbow mean for LGBT? The original flag featured eight colors, each having a different meaning.
The different colors within the flag were meant to represent togetherness, since LGBT people come in all races, ages and genders, and rainbows are both natural and beautiful. The flag is typically flown horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow.Īlso, why do guys use the rainbow? He instead opted to use a rainbow as his inspiration. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ community, as the flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride during LGBTQ rights marches. Other older uses of rainbow flags include a symbol of peace. The different colors are often associated with "diversity" in the gay community (but actually have literal meanings).Ĭorrespondingly, why is the rainbow a symbol of pride? The rainbow flag was popularized as a symbol of the gay community by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978.