http://americansfortruth.com/uploads/2008/06/homosexual_rainbow_flag.jpg
The rainbow “Pride Flag” is something that I see everyday. It’s a symbol that I carry with me at all times and yet I’ve never stopped to think about the meaning behind it, its history, and what its represented in the past. Today this is a symbol that brings hope to the members of the LGBT community. It represents “safe environments” where people can be themselves without fear of experiencing negative comments or stares. To the “straight world” the flag represents something different. Over the years, not only the rainbow flag but also the rainbow colors in any form, have acquired a negative connotation for those who aren’t personally touched by it. Even the website where I found this picture spoke negatively about it. “We can’t let the homosexual activists steal the rainbow just like they stole the word “gay” and are trying to steal “equality” by applying it to counterfeit same-sex “marriage”(Americansfortruth.com).”
Nowadays, the rainbow flag is automatically associated with being “gay.” Additionally the rainbow itself was something that is seen as feminine or something that might appeal to women rather than men. The fact that this flag now represents gay men, who in the mind of straight men, have been effeminized and no longer seen as “real” men, creates a negative stereotype about the flag and those who support it.
In order to get rid of this negative connotation and stereotypes, we need to work on educating society on the true meaning of the flag. It is not simply a rainbow that represents queer people (by “queer” I mean people who identify themselves as Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, reclaiming "queer" as a positive connotation.); the flag has seen history in LGBT right marches since the 1970s. The multi-colored flag represents the diverse community (wikipedia.com).
To me the flag represents my pride and my identity as a queer woman of color. It represents my personal struggle to stop homophobia. Last fall, during a pride week parade on the UC Davis campus, I held the flag. At that moment I felt empowered, and liberated. That moment having the support of others helps me neglect the fear of being myself.What society has to understand is that the queer community has not “stolen” the rainbow; instead, it has become a beautiful symbol of the hope that one day we will see the sunlight after the storm.
1 comment:
This is an interesting object to analyze because, as you point out, the rainbow flag (and flags in general) have complicated histories. Like many objects we have analyzed thus far, their meanings can even contradict one another.
A related point is the different codes these objects can have, depending on their context. You indirectly make this point with the website from which you saved this photo. I am interested why you did not go to another site that is more politically aligned with the meaning the flag has for you. You should have developed this point more thoroughly rather than moving into generalizations about rainbows and their associations with gender. For example, why do you claim that the rainbow is associated with women? Where is your evidence for this point? Try not to overlook the context and interesting contradictions that can arise—focusing in these latent instances in your post would have made it stronger.
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