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Pride Flag: Remembering Our Roots

Pride Flag: Remembering Our Roots

This year the iconic Pride flag turns 40. The flag is symbolic to any and everyone that supports or identifies as LGBTQ. It has allowed for expansion and inspiration for different flags to come about. But a lot of people don’t know the roots of this iconic flag. 

Before the creation of the rainbow flag, the LGBTQ community identified themselves with a pink triangle. This dates back to the Holocaust, where queer men were identified with a pink triangle and queer women were identified with a black triangle. It was symbol used to mark “sexual deviants” or anyone who was “asocial.”  The pink triangle was adopted by gay rights activists in the 1970s and criticized by some, who deemed it exploitative and offensive to those who were prosecuted by the Nazis.

It was not until 1978 when the first rainbow flag was created eight years after the first Pride, by artists Gilbert Baker, Angelino Lynn Segerblom, and James McNamara with the purpose to create a universal symbol for the LGBTQ community.

Segerblom, is a self-taught tie-dye artist who dyed each of the flag strips by hand. While she is often overlooked in the creation of the flag, she was very influential in its birth. 

The creation of the rainbow flag has led many others to create their own versions of LGBTQ flags that represent different parts of our community including transgender, bisexual, pansexual and many others. This goes to show how far we have come and far we will go as community. Although some have been critical of the new flags, they send an important message about inclusion within the community. 

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