I can not believe half of this year is already gone! It's June, AND it's Pride month.
I thought I would use this time to shine a light on all the beautiful shades of our family.
We've moved way past the basic rainbow and some of these categories you may not even be aware of. Over the next few weeks I will be highlighting 4 flags / week and giving light to each one of these facets.
More and more we keep getting visibility, but I've found even within our LGBTQ fam sometimes we don't see much further than our own sexual identifications or those of our friends. It's time to open up and appreciate EVERYONE that makes us- us.
So without further ado- Let's get started:
In 1977, artist and openly gay veteran Gilbert Baker created a pride flag. Gay politician Harvey Milk (who initiated the making of), said he felt the queer community needed something that “celebrated our love”
And I just fucking love that. It’s that simple. Celebrating our love.
Each color in the flag had symbolism:
Pink: sex
Red: life
Orange: healing
Yellow: sunlight
Green: nature
Turquoise: magic and art
Indigo: serenity
Violet: spirit
Well doesn’t that just envision what we all are seeking in life .
Sadly, a few months after the flag made its debut, Milk was assasinated.
After Milk was murdered, the demand for the flag increased due to people wanting to show support, but the pink fabric was harder to come by and ended up being removed for ease of production.
Traditional gay flag:
Apparently all the stripes were just too elusive or just because producers were absolutely lazy AF, lol but in 1979 the flag went down to the traditional 6 colors we know very well today.
(Not to throw stones, but honestly I think I preferred it with the original shades! I mean who wants to leave out SEX and Magic and Art!? I mean hello!!
Bisexual flag:
In 1998- which wow, is actually not that long ago the bisexual flag was created to increase the visibility of those who are attracted to two genders.
The pink represents attraction to those of the same gender identity, while the blue stands for attraction to people who identify as a different gender. The purple stripe in the middle symbolizes attraction to two genders.
Now- think something that needs to be talked about is the stigma of bisexuality. It gets this bad rep of people “not really knowing” or “greedy” -
Even I have looked down on girls randomly throwing around the term bisexual- or making out with their friends just because guys think it’s “hot” or cool then calling it bisexual.
Now by no means, am I saying that I think being attracted to the same sex should be made a joke or be treated loosely / exploited for mens sexual pleasure (ew).
But I am trying to come from a new place of understanding, And I think everyone should do this as well. I mean what is wrong with not actually knowing??
Are we not all just humans growing and changing over the span of our lives?
So I say let’s start accepting and embracing those who identify as bisexual more.
Pansexual flag:
In 2010, the pansexual flag was created to distinguish between pan and bisexual.
And it is a very big difference- Pansexuals are attracted to people regardless of their sex or sexual orientation.
It’s really about the person- the human, and I think that’s a really beautiful thing. It’s something I used to identify with in my past because I honestly didn’t give AF what you were as long as you were amazing.
However, at the end of it all these days I identify as lesbian just due to the fact that I prefer women bar-non sexually. (Shout out to my incredible girlfriend ;) )
Anyway I still commend all the pansexuals out there for not being blocked by sexuality- if we had that amount of openness around the world it would be a way more tolerant and understanding place.
Stay tuned for more flag fun next week!
Happy Pride you guys!
Let’s celebrate our love. ️
xoxo- Vox the Fox
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