The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things.” "We needed something beautiful, something from us. “It was necessary to have the Rainbow Flag because up until that we had the pink triangle from the Nazis-it was the symbol that they would use ," Baker said in an interview with New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2015 when the institution acquired his design for its permanent collection. Both flags were raised at San Francisco’s United Nations Plaza during the 1978 Gay Freedom Day celebrations. (The colours were later reduced to six as hot pink was too expensive to mass produce.) One version also had a square of blue and white tie-dyed stars. Each featured eight stripes in a rainbow of colours: pink to represent sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for magic and art, blue for serenity and purple for spirit, according to the artist’s foundation.
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“People hang it in small towns and in countries where they still experience a lot of oppression, but it also has become a political statement to say that we exist, we have the right to love who we want to love and to participate as full members of society,” the museum’s executive director, Terry Beswick, told the local public news station KQED.īaker, who worked at the Paramount Flag Company in San Francisco in the 1970s, created two monumental flags with the help of volunteers including fellow artists Lynn Segerblom, James McNamara, Glenne McElhinney, Joe Duran and Paul Langlotz. To celebrate the start of Pride Month in early June, the hand-stitched and dyed 28ft-long banner, which has become an important symbol of queer identity, has been permanently installed in the museum. But her office has also received many angry responses - mostly from white gay men - who feel the black and brown stripes are unnecessary, she said.A segment of the original rainbow flag, designed and created by the late artist Gilbert Baker for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June 1978 and thought to be lost since then, was recently rediscovered and donated to the city’s GLBT Historical Society Museum and Archives. Hikes has received requests from LGBTQ groups across the country that want to march with the flag in their Pride events. Amber Hikes, executive director of Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs, next to the city's new Pride flag in June 2017 City of Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairsĭespite the controversy surrounding it, the black and brown flag has grown increasingly popular since its unveiling. I mean, I find that pretty sad that it has to now be that intentional, because of years of being tone deaf that the rainbow includes everybody,” she said. “By putting in those extra colors they’re saying, ‘You’re not doing it,’ and it’s just unfortunate. She said the Philadelphia flag is a sign that people of color continue to feel excluded. “I think it’s unfortunate that we have to be even more intentional, because the whole idea of the rainbow flag was that it included everybody,” said the activist, who has sat on the advisory boards of several national LGBTQ organizations. In her eyes, the Philadelphia flag is a continuation of that legacy. That has spurred non-whites to create their own organizations and events, she said. White cisgender gay men have historically been in control of national LGBTQ organizations, which has influenced LGBTQ culture, according to Monroe.
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Bars in the neighborhood were also accused of discriminatory-dress code policies. In 2016, social justice groups became furious after a video surfaced showing the owner of a popular gay bar using the N-word. She said the city’s popular gay neighborhood - dubbed the "gayborhood" - has a history of racism. Hikes, a black queer woman, said the flag is an especially important symbol for Philadelphia. Philadelphia's new rainbow Pride flag, which includes black and brown stripes, is raised at City Hall in June 2017 Kelly Burkhardt / City of Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs
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“It’s a push for people to start listening to people of color in our community, start hearing what they’re saying, and really to believe them and to step up and say, ‘What can I do to help eradicate these issues in our community?” said Amber Hikes, the new executive director of Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs. The flag, hoisted outside City Hall during a recent Pride Month event, was created as part of the More Color More Pride campaign, which aims to make non-white LGBTQ people more visible.
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The black and brown stripes on Philadelphia’s new rainbow flag are inspiring hope in some and anger in others.