Hidden Truths behind the Pride Month Rainbow
By: Sonia Rawat
Tags: LGBTQ, Pride, Pride Month, Rainbow Flag, Rainbow

Happy Pride Month everyone! June heralds the celebration of LGBTQIA+ communities worldwide, and the rainbow flag has become synonymous with the community at large. As inclusivity is being embraced in different countries around the world, the support towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual people is a sign of progression.

The first pride flag was observed at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. A total of 30 volunteers hand-dyed and stitched the first 2 flags for the parade. The multicolour rainbow flag adds a kick to the unique celebrations, owing to its vibrant colour and striking design, but did you know there’s an interesting history behind it (with each colour having a symbolic meaning)?

Let’s take a look at how Pride Month is marked in Singapore first and the reason it’s celebrated in June:

Image courtesy: Honeycombers

Pride Month in Singapore

In Singapore, Pride Month is celebrated via festivals and events including Pink Dot, Pink Fest, and IndigNation. Due to the current pandemic, all these events have been shifted to online platforms where everyone can participate. Prior to the pandemic, celebrations included gatherings and picnics, celebrity performances by members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and even a light-up ceremony where the area was set aglow with pink torches. Queer and queer-friendly movies were showcased, and career mentorship and an LGBTQIA+-led panel discussion also took place.

Why is June dedicated to Pride Month?

June marks the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, during which demonstrations by members of the gay community took place to protest against a police raid in Manhattan, New York City. What started off as a fight for their rights led to extensive protests that carried on for days. After this particular incident, activist organisations focused on creating safe social spaces for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. This marked an important milestone in the history of pride parades, which have been held for many years in memory of this significant event.

In 1993, a similar incident occurred in Singapore, which was termed ‘Singapore’s Stonewall’ by local gay activists. At one of Pan Pacific’s Sunday gay disco nights, plainclothes policemen raided the venue and detained some people without their identity cards, lacking any evidence of wrongdoing (as per a statement made by gay lawyer Wilfred Ong). The truth was uncovered later, and since the police had no authority whatsoever to make the detentions, the Central Police Division Headquarters issued an apology.

Now that we know the background story of Pride Month, we can uncover the symbolic meanings behind the colours of the Pride rainbow flag.

Here are the hidden truths behind the Pride Month Rainbow:

The ‘Pink Connection’

There’s a reason why pink is strongly associated with the LGBTQIA+ community to this day. A ‘pink triangle’ was the symbol of the community before the creation of the rainbow flag. However, this triangle signifies a painful past that dates back to the Holocaust, during which the Nazis forced those they labelled as gay to wear inverted pink triangle badges, just like they forced Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. In the 1970s, the pink triangle was retrieved by the gay community as a reminder of the past, and a commitment to prevent similar future occurrences.

Activists, however, realised that a more empowering symbol was the need of the hour.

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

The Birth of the Rainbow Flag

The creator of the first rainbow pride flag was Gilbert Baker, who was residing in San Francisco in the late ’70s when he met writer Cleve Jones, filmmaker Artie Bressan, and rising activist and politician Harvey Milk. All these people inspired Baker to create an uplifting symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community, which led him to observe people in the community. One of those nights, when he was looking at people dancing at SF’s music venue Winterland Ballroom, he noticed that the crowd was equally bedazzling as the band. There was a stunning juxtaposition of colours and light, similar to a rainbow…

That was when he knew exactly what type of flag he wanted to make.

The Original Pride Flag Colours

The earliest version of Baker’s rainbow pride flag (1978) comprised 8 colours, namely hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo, and violet. As per the website for his estate, Baker attributed a special meaning to every colour of his pride flag. Here are what the colours stand for:

Hot Pink — Sex

Red — Life

Orange — Healing

Yellow — Sunlight

Green — Nature

Turquoise — Magic/Art

Indigo — Serenity

Violet — Spirit

Image by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Today’s Pride Flag Colours

After Harvey Milk was assassinated in November 1978, the rainbow pride flag underwent a change. As hot pink fabric was tough to source, Baker removed that stripe from his flag. In 1979, when the flag was hung vertically from the lamp posts of San Francisco’s Market Street, the turquoise centre stripe was masked due to the similar hue of the lamp post. This resulted in Baker removing another stripe from the flag, and today’s six-stripe rendition is the one we often see nowadays. These colours include red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The indigo shade was replaced by blue, which now stands for harmony. Here are what the colours present in today’s pride flag stand for:

Red — Life

Orange — Healing

Yellow — Sunlight

Green — Nature

Blue — Harmony

Violet — Spirit

It’s interesting to note that many rainbow pride flags display 8 stripes again. Back in 2017, a new pride flag with brown and black stripes was unveiled, as a show of solidarity with people of colour within the LGBTQIA+ community. This inclusive pride flag has an international visibility now.

Stayr with Pride

At Stayr, we take immense pride in supporting the LGBTQIA+ community and are committed to championing their cause. Just like the rainbow flag, our team also comprises people of different backgrounds and ethnicities, who come together to effectively solve problems and create memos that leave a lasting impact. Stayr with us now to experience the difference!