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More than one rainbow?


NickyTannock

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NickyTannock

I must admit I'm ignorant on this topic, but why is there more than one version of the rainbow flag? e.g. the Asexual flag is black, grey, white and purple.
I thought the whole point of it being a rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple), was to represent sexual diversity?
So why does it sorely represents the gay community?
I understand that everyone wants representation, but isn't that covered?

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I'm no expert either, but I think that while the main flag does represent the whole community, the fact that each subgroup faces different challenges is why there are different flags.  Sort of the same as each state having a different flag, but we still have a national flag.

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Hey Michael

 

I get what you're saying, at first I was a little confused by it too. I guess it's just the way the queer community has evolved. At first it was like black and white, there was only heterosexuality and homosexuality, therefore a flag for homosexuality was created - think of it as the original. Then from there, many other orientations were established, thus creating different flags in the process.

 

Even for the ace community, there are flags which represent demisexuality and such, but overall the ace flag is the primary symbol. I think it goes the same for the queer community in general. The Gays were the OG, so it's also the mother flag for the rest of the community (: It represents the central idea of non-hetero-normative individuals.

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Countries have flags, states/provinces have flags, municipalities have flags. This is basically the GSM equivalent of that, from my understanding. The rainbow flag will probably still be used for broader symbolism, but there are times where being specific is beneficial. Not all LGBT spaces incorporate asexuality in their mission (for whatever reason) so I would find it helpful to see an ace flag. There's a different set of needs for gender minorities, so trans flags may advertise services offered to them. There have also been queer spaces that had elements of transphobia, or even biphobia. If there's a local history of such organizations, those that are inclusive of these GSMs would benefit from specifying that they're welcoming.

 

There are also subculture flags, like the bear flag (for the gay male subculture that calls themselves bears) or the BDSM flag. It could be a symbol for sexual expression, or it could be about combating judgment for these subsets. The diversity of flags seems never ending, especially when you look through online spaces like Tumblr where you have a lot of people who are creatively minded exploring their very individual identities. Some of them take off more in the broader world if there's a community to bond over them.

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everywhere and nowhere

Only the red-to-violet spectrum is a rainbow. Black, gray, white and purple, or pink, white and blue, and so on, are "colored stripes", not "rainbow".

However, I think you have a point. I, for example, very much dislike when some people tend to think that the rainbow flag stands for gays and lesbians only... I also don't mind separate symbols for smaller groups (and don't forget that flags are not the only possibility, there are also other symbols, such as pink triangle for gay men, labrys for lesbians, ace cards for asexuals...) - however, the rainbow flag was meant to symbolize diversity. This is exactly its meaning - to show that there are many shades of experience outside heteronormativity, but also many different identities within the group characterized by their minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity...

 

And as for "colored stripes", here's a very slightly related comment I wrote when some homophobes were protesting a rainbow bridge in Rzeszów, Poland:

"If rainbow colors are controversial, outraged people really deserve a bit of pity. (...)
Second - it's just sad if people allowed themselves to be persuaded that gays and lesbians (and - by implication - everything which may be associated with them) are some Great Evil. After all these are just people. People who differ only in their psychosexual tendency to the same gender - which is not in any way immoral or worse, just less common. (...)
And third, homophobes are hypocrites. When some people make fun at them, saying that they will soon ban rainbows in the sky, homophobes answer that number of colors matters. [Yes, actually someone - in Russia, not in Poland, if I remember well - said that a "normal rainbow" has seven colors and if a rainbow has only six, "it's gay".] Still a rainbow can have 6 shades and it can have 6000 - the essence of a rainbow is that colors smoothly change from one to the next. 5-6 colors is a minimum required for such colors to be recognized as "rainbow" and not "colored stripes". The bridge in Rzeszów has quite much more than 6, and yet it suddenly turns out that this is deviant and ugly too..."

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