The
Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, Massachusetts
Six Locke Street - Andover, MA 01810 • 978.475.4454
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The
Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, Massachusetts |
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| A Liberal Religious Voice in the Merrimack Valley since 1847 |
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Rainbow Flag GAZE Magazine (Minneapolis), #191 28 May 1993 
During the days of the Underground Railroad, abolitionists made marks on their doors that indicated to runaway slaves where to take shelter. Undercover police officers have long used a "color of the day," to tip off other cops to their true identity. Color has long played an important role in our community's expression of pride. In Victorian England, for example, the color green was associated with homosexuality. The color purple (or, more accurately, lavender) became popularized as a symbol for pride in the late 1960s — a frequent post-Stonewall catchword for the gay community was "Purple Power". But the most colorful of our symbols is the Rainbow Flag, and its rainbow of colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple -- represents the diversity of our community. Today, more and more businesses are posting a cheerful logo to guarantee gay and lesbians that they are welcome and will be treated well. The seven-colored rainbow sticker in bright prismatic stripes (red stripe on top) is typically nestled under the door decals advertising the acceptance of credit cards. The symbol is wordless, but its message is loud and clear: This establishment is gay-friendly. Bigotry will not be tolerated. Its presence does not necessarily mean an establishment is gay-owned; it broadcasts a message of tolerance and welcome to all groups -- for black people and all minorities. It means you can act natural (there), the way heterosexuals do anywhere else. If you want to hold hands or be affectionate, you won't feel intimidated. 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.) Using the five-striped "Flag of the Race" as his inspiration, Baker designed a flag with eight stripes: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. According to Baker, those colors represented, respectively: sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. Baker dyed and sewed the material for the first flag himself -- in the true spirit of Betsy Ross. Baker soon approached San Francisco's Paramount Flag Company about mass producing and selling his "gay flag". Unfortunately, Baker had hand-dyed all the colors, and since the color "hot pink" was not commercially available, mass production of his eight-striped version became impossible. The flag was thus reduced to seven stripes. In November 1978, San Francisco's gay community was stunned when the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, was assassinated. Wishing to demonstrate the gay community's strength and solidarity in the aftermath of this tragedy, the 1979 Pride Parade Committee decided to use Baker's flag. The committee eliminated the indigo stripe so they could divide the colors evenly along the parade route — three colors on one side of the street and three on the other. Soon the six colors were incorporated into a six-striped version that became popularized and that, today, is recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers. In San Francisco, the Rainbow Flag is everywhere: it can be seen hanging from apartment windows throughout the city (most notably in the Castro district), local bars frequently display the flag, and Rainbow Flag banners are hung from lampposts on Market Street (San Francisco's main avenue) throughout Pride Month. Visiting the city, one cannot help but feel a tremendous sense of pride at seeing this powerful symbol displayed so prominently. Although the Rainbow Flag was initially used as a symbol of pride only in San Francisco, the flag seems to be gaining in popularity. Indeed, the Rainbow Flag reminds us that ours is a diverse community — composed of people with a variety of individual tastes of which we should all be proud. Sources used for this article were found at Quatrefoil Library in St. Paul, and include: "Vexed by Rainbows", by Paul Zomcheck, in "Bay Area Reporter" (June 26, 1986); "Rainbow Flag" in "The Alyson Almanac" (1989); and "The Rainbow Flag", in "Parade 90: San Francisco Gay/Lesbian Freedom Day Parade and Celebration" (June 24, 1990) |
SPOTLIGHT |
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Unitarian Universalist Congregation
of Andover • 6 Locke Street, Andover, MA 01810 • (978) 475-4454
Copyright © 2004-2007 U.S.A. All rights reserved |