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And that’s why in 1978 Gilbert Baker created the rainbow flag.” “It’s also a powerful symbol for community, because all these colours combine into one whole, from different pieces coming together.
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“In Ancient Greece, if you saw a rainbow you might think that the goddess Iris, who was a messenger deity, had come down to earth from Olympus,” LGBT+ Museum freelancer Sacha Coward explains. Over the years, the rainbow–ultimately a meteorological phenomenon caused by the refraction light in water droplets–has held different meanings. James's tweet took off–he shared that his mentions became flooded with people saying “it's fine if the LGBT flag gets repurposed, because it ‘can be anything we want it to be.’" Others asked–"why can't it just be a rainbow?" What is the history of the six colour LGBT+ Pride flag? And those people are definitely frustrating." "Those are the people who are actively trying to steal our flag, in my opinion. "What I find frustrating are the people who know it's an LGBT flag but are taking the stance 'well it’s a symbol for the NHS now, we repurpose things all the time.' " quite happy thinking it's for the NHS and doesn't want it any more complicated than that." Obviously, this list is not exhaustive, and there are regularly more pride flags being created to reflect different groups, but hopefully this information can prove useful as you learn about and champion the LGBTQ+ people in your life.This irony wasn’t missed by another James who shared the case of his grandad displaying the LGBT Pride Flag at his house "for the NHS": "Though I started reading about gender and sexuality right away in my college library the first semester I started there, the online component allowed me to browse through forums and articles and to chat with people who seemed to identify like I did when I was in the process of figuring it all out." "Online communities have been tremendously influential, giving people a virtual space to do research on possibilities and especially to find others who feel similarly," they said.
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Marilyn Roxie, the designer of the genderqueer pride flag, told Majestic Mess that the rise in social media platforms and other internet hubs for queer people has been hugely important in leading to the creation of new flags. There has been a meaningful uptick in new pride flags since 2010, with variants for intersex, non-binary, and agender people produced. Some, like the two-spirit pride flag and the updated pride flag, incorporate Baker's original design while adding more colors and elements to acknowledge both Native Americans and the broader POC community, respectively.
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Since Gilbert Baker first created the original rainbow pride flag back in 1978, designers and activists of all genders, identities, and sexual orientations have made different iterations to reflect unique communities. It's also a celebration of the beauty and diversity of the experience, flown at pride events all throughout the month of June. Over the last 40-plus years, the rainbow pride flag has become a symbol synonymous with the LGBTQ+ community and its fight for equal rights and acceptance across the globe.