From Google to Starbucks to At&T, the rainbow has become the new flag for America, from sea to shining sea, America is now draped with the rainbow. Twitter has added a rainbow heart icon with the hash tag: Love wins. Facebook has declared a celebration allowing members to add a rainbow filter to their profile picture to make clear those who support the decision. Silicon Valley companies are implementing all sorts of creative ways to use the rainbow as a sign of victory for the decision.
I’ve seen pictures of the White House painted with the colors of a rainbow. Within the last twenty four hours, the rainbow has appeared everywhere.
Within just a few hours, America itself seemed to be enveloped with the symbol of gay pride: the rainbow. In short order, President Obama unequivocally spoke of the decision as a victory for America. As soon as the announcement was made, gay and lesbian couples swarmed the streets with victory cries. This landmark opinion, as it’s being described, now opens the door for all gay and lesbian couples to have legally recognized marriages in all fifty states. This last Friday is already designated as one of the most historic victories in our nation’s history as a divided Supreme Court on Friday ruled that same-sex couples can now marry nationwide. It seems like a good time to think again about one of the central symbols adopted by the Gay Rights movement, the rainbow. Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive because flags are always being devised to reflect different sub-cultures, but hopefully this will useful for the next time you see one of these gorgeous symbols being flown at the next Pride event.This past weekend the city of San Diego celebrated Gay Pride Day, supported by tax-funded civil agencies announcing their support. We’ve collected a list of the Pride flags that have become synonymous with various identities in our vibrant community. The existence of this flag doesn’t take away from anybody else’s identity. “That is literally the purpose of any flag we have – to stand as a symbol for an identity, whether it’s a country, a municipality, a company, it stands as a symbol to recognise and highlight the experiences of this entity. Instead it is a way to symbolise, to highlight, and to stand in solidarity with these other identities,” she told GAY TIMES. “This eight-stripe flag is not a replacement, in the same way that that those other flags didn’t replace the original. When we spoke to Amber Hikes, developer of the eight-stripe More Colour More Pride flag, she explained the importance of individual symbols for LGBTQ+ sub-cultures – and she did it beautifully. NEWSFLASH PEOPLE: one flag would be a snooze-fest!
There has been pushback, however, from members of the community who argue that the original Pride flag encompasses and celebrates all identities. Since artist and gay rights activist Gilbert Baker created the original flag in 1978, various designers and advocates have made different (or updated) variations of the flag to better represent individual communities. Each year, the rainbow flag is flown at Pride events all around a world to reflect the beauty and diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.