Rainbow Flag

Gilbert Baker plagiarized the World Peace Association's flag and barbed the Judeo-Christian symbol of God's covenant.

Before the rainbow flag (way back to June 24, 1978), the symbol for gay pride was the pink triangle, because the Nazis used that symbol to denote gays from other prisoners in the concentration camps (for special harassment). I respect the hell out of turning something ugly into something to be proud of overcoming. The rainbow flag is the antithesis of that.

ℹ️ Info

~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2022-04-13

Think about the rainbow and rainbow flag. Before the rainbow flag (way back to June 24, 1978), the symbol for gay pride was the pink triangle. Why? Because the Nazis used that symbol to denote gays from other prisoners in the concentration camps (for special harassment). The gay liberation movement was trying to take that symbol back and wear it as a memorial to past victims and to protest continuing discrimination.

1975 movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the bisexual, transvestite Frank N. Furter wears a pink triangle badge on one of his outfits as that symbol.

I respect the hell out of that, turning something ugly into something to be proud of and stand behind.

Gilbert Baker (gay activist and friend of Harvey Milk) wanted to identify himself as an artist, so he took a few other ideas and merged them for gay pride flag. Which ironically makes sense, as the gay movement started justly as a rebelling against persecution and inequality (something I support), to devolving into sometimes demanding inequality (special status/privilege to make up for past injustice).

Baker borrowed from striped flag created for the World Peace Association's flag created in 1939, which was 5 striped colors of the people of earth: red, white, brown, yellow, and black. This was meant to symbolize the end or at least unity of racism and unite the people on a single flag.

Baker decided to use the rainbow to put our gender preference above our race. The community wants to remember this as hugely innovative (they need their idols too), and it might have been a case of parallel innovation and him being so provincial and unworldly that he didn't realize it was suggested by Revolution-era Thomas Paine to be used for ships to signal neutrality in times of war, or that the peace movement used it since 1913, and it was being widely used by peace and no-nukes crowds since 1961 (just upside down).

He sewed some 8 striped versions for the gay pride parade with each color representing different things: hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise blue for art, indigo for harmony, and the violet color for the spirit.

When he went to mass-produce it, the hot pink was unavailable so they dropped it.

Once Harvey Milk was assassinated the same year, the sales of the flag as a symbol against that (or for activism) took off. Then when the city of SF wanted to use the flag for various events they found that 6 colors were easier to produce (and an even number of stripes), so the modern simplified 6-striped version became the norm.

Whether intentional or not, the rainbow was also a symbol of God's covenant between him and mankind, so was a powerful symbol in the Judeo-Christian world. Whether it was intentional hijacking or accidental (I suspect the former), it was sort of an insult/dig to many Christians to use this for a purpose they consider antithetical to their beliefs. The Noahic covenant was never to proclaim than man was free from responsibility for his own actions. So intentional or not, it's sort of like if Asian clubs started wearing white hoods to symbolize their anonymity in western countries. Either way, I think it put the movement more at odds with traditional Christians than they would have been if they picked different symbols. While gay activists have a history of intentionally attacking Christians (as they see it as retaliation for oppression), I have no idea if that aspect of the symbolism was intentional or not. But I know that it does irk some people who take it as a dig.

More[edit | edit source]

Before people claim that it wasn't an intentional dig at Christianity, just remember that there is a lot of intentional digs at Christianity amongst radical activists on the left: whether gay, marxists, peace or other. They tend to see the world through post-modernist ideas -- where everything traditional is bad, religion caused all prior wars and suffering, and it's standard values that get in the way of the "progress" they want to make. I'm reminded of the following contest:

Jesus Fucking Christ[edit source]

Main article: Jesus Fucking Christ

Identity politics/dividing us for votes is not new. The left decided long ago that if the establishment believes X, it must be wrong (unless they're the establishment). Thus the norms are worthy of contempt and mocking, while proclaiming their sides superior tolerance, political correctness and respect. Aka the Hunky Jesus Contest.

🗒️ Note:
Look, I love my LGBT friends and family, but that doesn't mean all radical activists or their symbols are always good. And I'm undecided on whether the Flag really represents tolerance from oppression: which I like. Or that the new Pink-Marxist activists are going to pervert this into a symbol of intolerance towards everything they don't like: like the rainbow Antifa. I think it's up to them to decide how it will be used, and protect their symbol from abuse. But for now, it's starting to trend the wrong way for me. When the pride movement treats Christians and conservatives the way they want to be treated (lead by example), and vise versa, then the Flag will truly be something to be proud of.

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Terms
We need to agree on what terms mean. This used to be easy, before SJW's/Marxists started Orwelling our language.

LGBTQ
This is a list of various articles on LGBTQ issues. That's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer for those not in the know.

Isms
Preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation of others based on some affiliation, taste or characteristic.

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