UUCIA Lambda Symbol

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, Massachusetts
Six Locke Street - Andover, MA 01810 • 978.475.4454

A Liberal Religious Voice in the Merrimack Valley since 1847

Lambda Symbol

From The Alyson Almanac ("Gay Symbols Throughout the Ages," pp 99-100):
"The Greek letter lambda was chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance in 1970 to become a symbol of the gay movement. Its original militant associations have softened, and the symbol often appears on jewelry, as a sign that will go unrecognized by the uninitiated. the word has also been useful for organizations such as Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, as a way of expressing "lesbian and gay males" in a minimum of syllables."

From The Big Gay Book ("What Do the Terms Mean?", pp 98-100):
"The Lambda was designated the symbol of gay liberation by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970. It was adopted as the international symbol of gay liberation by the Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1974. The symbol was chosen because it stands for synergy -- the concept that the whole is greater than its independent parts -- according to some sources, or, according to others, because it is the letter "L" (for "Liberation") in the Greek alphabet."

As you can see, its origins are somewhat ambiguous. Most of these explanations are post hoc, made up after the fact to be the most clever story possible. My favorite, which may or may not be true, is that lambda is the symbol used in physics to represent wavelength. Gays use it because gays belong to a "different wavelength."

SPOTLIGHT

Weekly Services
Sunday Service: 10:30 a.m.
Summer Services: 9:30 a.m.

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Andover • 6 Locke Street, Andover, MA 01810 • (978) 475-4454