by Teresa Hoback

Created on: May 21, 2008   Last Updated: January 19, 2009

GAY SYMBOLS AND THEIR MEANING

Gay pride symbols have been around for a long time. The rainbow became the symbol of gay pride verses gay liberation which used the pink triangle. The first Rainbow Flag was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, who created the flag in response to a local activist's call for the need of a community symbol. (This was before the pink triangle was popularly used as a symbol of pride.)

In some areas the flag is used to mark gay friendly places and in some cases, gay safe. As most everyone knows, the pink triangle is a symbol that came directly from the Nazi concentration camps. Usually when concentration camps and Nazis are mentioned, most people tend to think of the Jewish Holocaust (for good reason). The fact that a large number of homosexual prisoners were in those same camps is grossly overlooked.

The rainbow flag has become one of the most widely used and recognized symbols of the gay pride movement. The Stonewall riots changed the course of gay the gay rights movement. A small number of activists created widespread protest for equal rights and acceptance.
The colors from the flag are often used on gay and lesbian websites, artwork, and items to numerous to mention. The flag debuted at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade.

Colors of the Rainbow Flag and their meaning are as follows:
The original flag had eight stripes from top to bottom: pink (sexuality), red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight), green (nature), turquoise (magic), indigo/blue (serenity), and violet (spirit). The flag since then lost two of its stripespink and violet. They "ran out of pink dye". The violet stripe was later taken out to create an even number of stripes on the flag.

One symbol which continues to remain popular is the lower case Greek letter lambda. The symbol was originally chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970. The GAA was a group which broke away from the larger Gay Liberation Front at the end of 1969, only six months after its foundation in response to the Stonewall Riots.

Victory over AIDS Flag is a traditional rainbow flag by adding a black stripe to the bottom in remembrance of everyone defeated by the AIDS virus over the years.

The red ribbon was originally inspired by the yellow ribbons prominently displayed during the Gulf War in support of U.S. soldiers. The color red was chosen because it is the color of blood- AIDS and HIV being blood-related diseases- and its symbolic connection to

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>