How to Understand Gay Pride Symbolism
The symbols of gay and lesbian pride hang around people's necks and appear boldly on cars, but few people know much about them.
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Instructions
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Contemplate the irony of the red tie - way before red power ties were in, a red tie meant a man was gay, bringing a whole new light to the President's "don't ask don't tell policy".
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Look for four diamonds placed in a pattern to form a larger diamond, but you're not likely to find them associated with the gay community anymore. The so-called harlequin diamonds were the symbol for the gay Mattachine Society, beginning in 1955.
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Travel back in time only a few years, and gays would have been more likely to display a pink triangle than anything, accepting the symbol placed on gay men by the Nazis and turning it into a statement of pride.
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Go back in time a few more years, and the Greek letter lambda was the symbol of choice. In 1970, the Gay Activists Alliance chose the letter, which looks like a lowercase "y" flipped upside-down, as the symbol for the gay movement, and the International Gay Rights Congress adopted it in 1974.
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Glance around any gay area today, however, and rainbows dominate the scene. The rainbow image has evolved since it was first created as a flag by Gilbert Baker in 1978.
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Be glad rainbows are in, because it could have been something significantly less appealing. In 1974, Bernie Toal and Tom Morganti, Boston gay rights activists, began a subway ad campaign using a lavender rhinoceros as the symbol for gay people.
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Tips & Warnings
Get pride symbols on caps, bumper stickers and lots of other things at your local gay and lesbian bookstore or shop. Or order them online from a Web site such as Alternatives (see Related Sites).
If you live in a conservative area, be aware that people are sometimes harassed for displaying their pride in front of people who apparently don't want to see it.
