Image Source: Shih-Shiuan Kao on Flickrīut as has been done many times throughout history, a symbol of oppression gradually was reclaimed and used as a sign of triumph, of resistance, of overcoming hardship and reclaiming an identity. Brightly coloured socks, typically yellow, were a sneaky nod to being openly gay in Australia for years.
Granted, that also got him in trouble – a novel based on his life, published in 1894, landed him on trial for indecency. If you didn’t know the significance, it was just another guy wearing a flower. Oscar Wilde’s green carnation famously served as a calling card: he was out and proud but in a subtle way. There’s historic precedent for using colour to indicate someone’s sexual preferences that isn’t quite as disturbing.
Signalling: Image Source: Shih-Shiuan Kao on Flickr Heartbreakingly, at a time when being gay was still considered something unholy and a defect, some of the other concentration camp inmates might use the pink triangle as a green light to inflict their own abuse.Įven as the war ended and the camps were liberated, some guards and soldiers kept homosexual inmates back to continue their imprisonment and abuse.ĭark days, indeed. It’s been said that guards could see pink triangles from a greater distance than other coded patches and they’d single out someone wearing a pink triangle for even worse abuse and treatment than other prisoners. Pink triangles were a signal to concentration camp guards. (Gays weren’t the only ones forced to wear colour-coded triangles, by the way - Roma people were forced to wear brown triangles red indicated a political prisoner green was for criminals purple was used to identify Jehovah’s Witnesses and blue triangles called out immigrants.) Image Source: Elvert Barnes Protest Photography at /protestphotography During Hitler’s regime, they were targeted not only for breaking that particular law but because it was believed homosexuality weakened the Aryan race because they did not contribute to the population. German criminal law section 175 explicitly prohibited men from participating in in homosexual activity (nothing was said about lesbians) and had been on the books since 1871. It was a quick and easy way to identify them, to cast them apart, to make it known that this was someone “lesser” or “different,” a way to brand someone as a target of hatred, ridicule, abuse and to be considered for extermination. Homophobia during WWII:ĭuring the horrible oppression of Jews and other peoples at the hands of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s and 1940s, gays were forced to wear a bright pink triangle, akin to the yellow Star of David attached to clothing worn by Jews. It’s not the only symbol that had been used to identify someone’s homosexuality, however. The rainbow flag synonymous with the LGBTQ community and gay pride events, along with Pride Month in June, has very humble beginnings as a textile representation of a population that stood in the shadows for generations.
People truly understood how important it was to wave the flag with pride.Īnd that has continued to this day, all around the world. When Milk was assassinated on November 27th, 1978 the flag rose in popularity. The original design featured a hot-pink stripe, but difficulty in obtaining hot-pink fabric resulted in it being dropped from the flag. From red being a symbol for life and the orange representing healing. The first openly gay politician wanted the LGBTQI community to have a positive symbol.Įach color on the flag represents something different. Harvey Milk commissioned the flag to be made before the 1978 pride rally. One that had to be replaced in order to progress. A symbol used by Nazis to identify the gay community during WWII. Prior to the flag, the community was defined by a pink triangle. It represents their love, inclusiveness and strength, all around the world. The rainbow flag is a universal symbol for the LGBTQI community.