What the stripes on the rainbow flag mean and why it is important to fly it at the City Hall
The new flag was first flown in San Francisco in 1978 during the Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day parade. "We needed something beautiful, something of our own," Gilbert recalled many years later, when rainbow flags were flying all over the world. He originally wanted to use stars like on the American flag, but then decided on eight colored stripes. He thought they were a great reflection of the diversity of the LGBT+ community, plus the rainbow was straight out of the sky!
A drag queen made the flag
Each stripe colour carried its own symbolism: pink represented sexuality, red meant life, orange meant healing, yellow meant the sun, green meant nature, turquoise meant art, indigo meant harmony, and purple meant spirit. Gilbert was a good seamstress because he made his own costumes for his drag shows. He and his helpers dyed the stripes for the first flags themselves, secretly in the washing machines of the public laundromat.
But soon the number of stripes was reduced to six. Pink and indigo fell out to make the flag cheaper to produce, allowing for more mass use. At the same time, the reduction in stripes also benefited the overall impression. Gilbert was aware that only a simple design would work as a symbol. The North American Vexillological Association, which advises flag makers, would agree: "Flags fly, flags fly. They must be recognizable from a distance and from both sides. Therefore, only simple designs work well... Avoid the temptation to incorporate everyone's symbol."
The more stripes, the more LGBT
Thirty years later, that's exactly what designer Daniel Quasar has attempted to do, as the rainbow flag is losing its power as a unified symbol for the entire LGBT+ movement and some newly emancipated groups simply don't see themselves in it. First, in 2017, the rainbow flag added a brown and black stripe as a symbol of the fight against racism. Then a year later, Daniel added the colours representing trans people - pink, light blue and white. To make all the stripes fit together, he inserted the added colours into the original rainbow flag as a wedge. His reasoning for this was that the new stripes of trans people and the fight against racism have a different meaning to the original stripes, plus they need to be given a visible position that indicates what issues are driving the LGBT+ community today.
But graphic designers, people involved in the history and symbolism of flags, and LGBT+ activists themselves have wrung their hands over this. Not only do the ten stripes create chaos, but most importantly, Quasar has shattered the symbolism of the rainbow flag built on the fact that the individual colours make up a complete spectrum. Adding more colours weakens the power of the symbol and instead of solidarity, it emphasises the divisiveness of the community.
Others want to be seen
But it's not that simple. While the rainbow flag is meant to represent the full spectrum, the LGBT+ movement itself is marked by the unequal status of some groups. Trans people, for example, were right there at the Stonewall Club raid that kicked off the modern LGBT+ movement in 1969, have featured prominently in subsequent protests since the beginning, yet have long remained marginalised within the community. When other identities began to claim their existence, it is understandable that they chose their own colour combinations.
For example, in 1998, the bisexual flag was created. It has purple (same-sex attraction), royal blue (opposite-sex attraction), and lavender (a mix of purple and blue, symbolizing attraction to both sexes).
The intersex flag was introduced in 2013 by the Organisation Internationale de l'Intersex (OII). Yellow and purple are "bi-sexual" colours and the circle symbolises wholeness, unity. Intersex people are still fighting for the right to bodily autonomy without medical intervention.
Bears, pansexuals, polysexuals, asexuals, genderqueer people, non-binary people and many others have their own flag. For example, the author of the blog This Lesbian Life ran out of patience in 2010 because she was often not recognized as a lesbian because of her feminine appearance - so she created a flag for femme or lipstick lesbians. Of course it has pink and red colors and a lipstick imprint to go with it.
Unity in diversity
The above flags show that their bearers are proud of their identity and want to be publicly recognised. Down with hiding and self-doubt. At the same time, they show the disunity of the LGBT+ community, which previously felt united by the rainbow. But is it even possible to maintain the unity of such a diverse community that has evolved over time from the original LGBT (which was in fact dominated by gays and seconded by lesbians)?
For the younger generation, visibility is really important. During the Prague Pride festival, the best-selling flag is not the rainbow flag, but the flags of the different identities. "When I saw the non-binary flag at the stand, I immediately bought it and wore it tied around my shoulders all day. I felt like I was really myself at that moment," one respondent wrote to the organizers in the participant questionnaire. The hanging of identity flags on street lamps during Prague Pride last year also elicited a positive response, with many LGBT+ people being moved.
Why it is important to fly the rainbow flag
"When I see a rainbow flag in a foreign country, I immediately know there's a kindred spirit there or that it's a safe place for me," praised flag creator Gilbert. The rainbow, he said, is a language that everyone in the community understands and a demonstration of shared strength.
That's why it was so important when the Prague mayor first flew the rainbow flag on the City Hall building on the first day of Prague Pride last year. It was a historic moment that came after nine years of trying to get Prague to adopt the Pride festival as its own. By displaying the rainbow symbol, the city made it clear that it supports and takes into account the rights of its LGBT+ residents and visitors. In doing so, the Mayor has not promised LGBT+ people anything extra compared to other groups. He just told people who are still being thrown out of their homes, rejected by landlords or verbally attacked on public transport for their identity that Prague wants them in public space just like other people.
For that reason, there is no need to fly the family flag on the municipal building, as demanded by opponents of LGBT+ rights. The family has no flag as its symbol because it does not need one. It is not attacked or challenged, people living in families are not the target of ridicule, they have no different rights to others. On the contrary, support for families is part of every election plan, even if, once elected, everything that was promised is often not delivered.
Can a heterosexual wear the rainbow flag or the rainbow symbol? Of course. A rainbow does not mean coming out. It does not announce to the world that you are LGBT+, but that you support equal rights for LGBT+ people. Keep this in mind when putting together your next outfit. Rainbows are not just for the rain in the sky.
