For instance, on June 8, 2017, the city of Philadelphia adopted a revised version of the flag that adds black and brown stripes to the top of the six-color flag, to highlight people of color in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Since then, Gilbert’s design has been adopted, adapted, and revised to represent the broad diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community such that no single flag can be said to be the “official” Pride Flag. …A Rainbow Flag would be our modern alternative to the pink triangle.” This flag flew at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978. The rainbow came from earliest recorded history as a symbol of hope. Gilbert Baker, creator of the original Rainbow Flag described the intent as follows: “A Rainbow Flag was a conscious choice, natural and necessary. The symbol of the rainbow has long been a cross-cultural archetype of hope and it remains so today for the LGBTQIA+ community. Raising and displaying the iconic Pride Flag is an important symbol of visibility and inclusion. While Stonewall Rebellion was not the first demonstration in the queer rights movement, it is widely renowned as a major tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement and its anniversary has become synonymous with the celebration of Pride Month by the LGBTQIA+ community.Ī key demand of activists, and a central theme of Pride Month, is to reject enforced invisibility and the shame such oppression is supposed to impose. Since then, each June has served as an opportunity for the LGBTQIA+ community, activists, and allies all around the world to commemorate the achievements of the on-going movement for LGBTQIA+ rights and important work still to be done to advance justice and equity for all. Gay Pride Week and March” on the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. The following year, Frank Kameny, Lilli Vincenz and other queer activists organized the first “U.S. On Jpatrons of the Stonewall Inn resisted unfair and inhumane raids against their queer space.