BENT! The Gay News Blog

It’s A Fag Flag!
by Aquilla

"And as he spoke of understanding, I looked up and saw the rainbow leap with flames of many colours over me"
~ Black Elk

In 1978 San Francisco artist and civil rights activist Gilbert Baker designed the so called Rainbow ‘Freedom Flag’ known in more recent times as the ‘Pride’, “Gay’ or ‘Queer’ Flag. The original flag design was intended to reflect the diversity within the LGBT community, Baker who was in the US Army in the early 70s was stationed in San Francisco at the start of the gay rights movement that followed the Stonewall Riots in New York, once he was (honourably) discharged from the army Baker first started to design banners for the anti war protest marches then went on to design the Rainbow Freedom Flag.

Following the assassination of the newly elected Mayor of San Francisco George Moscone along with openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk in November 1978 and as a result of the lenient sentence meted out to their assailant Bakers Rainbow Freedom Flag was used at the post assassination protest marches and following these at gay rights gatherings across San Francisco.

Since 1978 the theme and design of the freedom flag has varied greatly with different colour combinations being used by other civil rights organisations attempting to express views and objectives in their own inimitable way. The original Rainbow Freedom Flag itself was inspired by various flag designs used by left leaning civil rights organisations in the 60s and possibly by the use of a similar concept flag by the 60s Hippie movement. It is speculated that the original design may have also been largely influenced by pioneering h.omos.exual activist Allen Ginsberg. The flag in its present form is known principally as the ‘Rainbow Flag’ apart from being used as a symbol of pride by the gay community it is often used by some businesses as a marketing tool sometimes being used to acknowledge the gay community or just signifying that their business is gay friendly or simply to signal support for gay equal rights campaigns. The Rainbow Flag has also become a business commodity within itself, the Rainbow Flag can be found on a huge range of merchandise right across the retail spectrum, coffee mugs, key rings, clothing, jewellery and the like it is also recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers.

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow"
~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

The first ‘Freedom Flag’ had eight colours:

• Hot Pink - S.ex
• Red - Life
• Orange - Healing
• Yellow - Sun
• Green - Serenity with nature
• Turquoise - Art
• Indigo - Harmony
• Violet - Spirit

The colour pink on the original flag was removed due to problems with manufacture, Indigo was removed by the San Francisco Pride Parade Committee when they decided to use Baker's flag at the protest marches following the assassination of the San Francisco Mayor and Supervisor. The committee decided to remove the indigo stripe so they could divide the colours evenly along the parade route this version of the flag prevails today the ‘Rainbow Flag’ was born. The now widely recognised permanent pride flag design consists of six colours, which should always be displayed with red on the top when flown It is usually also flown with the red stripe on top this ensures that the colours appear as a natural rainbow. These colours still represent the diversity of the GLBT community but nature is also expressed as follows:

• Red - Life,
• Orange - Healing,
• Yellow - Sun,
• Green - Serenity with nature
• Turquoise - Art
• Violet - Spirit.

"If you take myth and folklore, and these things that speak in symbols, they can be interpreted in so many ways that although the actual image is clear enough, the interpretation is infinitely blurred, a sort of enormous rainbow of every possible colour you could imagine"
~ Diana Wynne Jones

In San Francisco, the Rainbow Flag can be seen hanging from apartment windows throughout the city most prominently in the gay ‘Castro’ district, local bars frequently display the flag, Rainbow Flag banners are hung from lamp posts on San Francisco's main avenue Market Street throughout Pride Month. Visitors to the city will experience a tremendous sense of pride at seeing such a powerful symbol so prominently displayed.

Although the Rainbow Flag was initially used as a symbol of pride and strongly represented protest alongside demands for civil rights and equal treatment under the law solely in Francisco it has now been adopted by gay civil rights organisations across the globe as a symbol of continuing pride, whilst representing the struggle for freedom and equal rights. It has recently been used in African countries most notably Uganda to rally activists to the cause of equal rights and to help end the murderous anti gay activities that prevail in that country and are openly perpetrated by that country’s evil government.

"Bastard Freedom waves Her fustian flag in mockery over slaves"
~ Thomas Moore

Colour as a means of expression and communication has always figured strongly within the gay community and not just today as the Rainbow Flag, back in Victorian England the colour green was associated with h.omos.exuality and often used by gay men to identify each other. The colour purple became popularized as a symbol for pride in the 1960s, a frequent post-Stonewall catchword for the gay community was "Purple Power". The colour purple was used in English Edwardian times as green was in the Victorian era.

The pink triangle re-emerged as a pride symbol in the 1980s but it has a desperately tragic history as it was used by the Nazi’s in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s to identify gay men in the concentration camps for extermination. When the 25th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots was held in 1994 in New York City, a mile-long rainbow flag was created for the celebrations. Today the overwhelming preference for expressing pride in our community is our flag the Rainbow Flag – The true Fa.g Flag!

"Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow - red, yellow, brown, black and white - and we're all precious in God's sight"
~ Jesse Brown


Information Sources, Sources of Inspiration
Article by Steven W. Anderson that appeared in GAZE Magazine
San Francisco Travel
Wikipedia on:
Gilbert Baker
History of the Rainbow Flag