#PulseOrlando

 June 12, 2023 marks seven years since 49 people were killed and 53 others wounded in a mass shooting inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Gay History: The Gay Pride Flag

The rainbow flag, also known as the gay pride flag or simply pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender.

In 1978, Harvey Milk, a San Francisco city supervisor and the first openly gay politician elected to office in California, asked his friend Gilbert Baker to create a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. Milk wanted to reveal the new design at the Gay Freedom Pride Parade in San Francisco that year.

Baker, a gay rights activist, army veteran, and artist, immediately got to work designing a striped flag with eight colors. According to Baker’s website, each color on the flag had a special meaning: Pink represented sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for serenity, and violet represented spirit. Thirty volunteers hand-dyed and stitched the original two flags.

The popularity of the rainbow flag has influenced the creation and adoption of a wide variety of multi-color multi-striped flags used to communicate specific identities within the LGBT community, including the bisexual pride flag, pansexual pride flag, transgender pride flags. and the 2018 Progress Pride Flag by Daniel Quasar.

( ~ gilbertbaker.com / Reader's Digest / Wikipedia )

Gay History: Gay Liberation Front

Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK, Australia and Canada. The GLF provided a voice for the newly-out and newly-radicalized gay community, and a meeting place for a number of activists who would go on to form other groups, such as the Gay Activists Alliance and Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) in the US. In the UK and Canada, activists also developed a platform for gay liberation and demonstrated for gay rights. Activists from both the US and UK groups would later go on to found or be active in groups including ACT UP, the Lesbian Avengers, Queer Nation, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and Stonewall.

( ~ Wikipedia / Photo: Photo by Diana Davies: Gay Liberation Front marches on Times Square, New York, 1970.)

Gay History: Gay Pride Month

The concept of Pride Month began with the Stonewall riots, a series of riots and protests for gay liberation that took place over several days beginning on June 28, 1969. The riots began after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar located within Lower Manhattan. Activists Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Stormé DeLarverie are credited for inciting the riots, though Johnson disputes her involvement.

The year after the riots, the first pride marches were held in several US cities. The march in New York City, aimed to celebrate "Christopher Street Liberation Day", alongside parallel marches across the US, is considered to be a watershed moment for LGBTQIA+ rights. Fred Sargeant, an organizer of some of the first marches, said that the goal was to commemorate the Stonewall riots and further push for liberation. He noted that while the first marches were more akin to a protest than a celebration, it helped to remind people of LGBTQIA+ communities and how they may include one's family and friends.

( ~ Wikipedia / Photo: In the early 1970's, the Northwestern University Gay Liberation group attended the anti-Vietnam War demonstration in Washington DC.)

May 22 ~ Harvey Milk Day

On May 22, we honor the life and legacy of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician in California and a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement. Time magazine included Harvey Milk on a list titled “The 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century.” Milk was not only an advocate for the LGBT community, but for all minorities. He believed in safe, strong neighborhoods and supported public education, affordable childcare, and equal rights for all.

#PulseOrlando

June 12, 2018 marks two years since 49 people were killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Gay Flamingos

“Gay Flamingos” are now available over at my #Society6 Shop: (https://society6.com/thecubanwitch) #sharemysociety6

Pink, proud, and married! Celebrate marriage equality with this feathered pair of fabulous flamingos!

Gay Hearts

“Gay Hearts” are now available over at my #Society6 Shop: (https://society6.com/thecubanwitch) #sharemysociety6

Does your precious little heart beat with a LGBTQ rhythm? Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Fingersnap.

#PulseOrlando

June 12, 2017 marks one year since 49 people were killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

Rainbow Love Dragons

The “Rainbow Love Dragons” are now available over at my #Society6 Shop: (https://society6.com/thecubanwitch) #sharemysociety6

These majestic Love Dragons have sworn to guide and protect all those gentle souls whose hearts yearn for the light of true love.

Get Your Gay On

Even though June is "Gay Pride Month" and the Supreme Court's rulings on Prop. 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) could literally come at any moment, I hate to admit that I have been neglectfully lazy about any gay pride postings here on my new blog. My father's passing last month has made this June more than a bit tumultuous for me, so I am going to keep this little Gay Pride post quick, light and airy...

Over the Rainbow, Under it, & Through it...
The Rainbow Flag, sometimes called the LGBT Pride Flag or the Gay Pride Flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) pride and the LGBT social movements since the 1970s. The colors are meant to reflect the diversity of the LGBT community, and although it originated in California, the Rainbow Flag is now a worldwide symbol of gay pride.

When San Francisco artist, Gilbert Baker first raised his Rainbow Flag at the San Francisco Pride March on June 25, 1978, it had eight colors, each with a unique symbolic meaning:

• Hot Pink: Sexuality
• Red: Life
• Orange: Healing
• Yellow: Sunlight
• Green: Nature
• Turquoise: Magic / Art
• Blue: Serenity / Harmony
• Violet: Spirit.

As of 1979, the most common variant of the Rainbow Flag now consists of six stripes, with the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. The flag is commonly flown horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow.

GLBT vs. LGBT? So... which is it?

Which do you use? Personally speaking, I have always used GLBT, and for the most part I pretty much still do. Though I feel that the two are interchangeable, there are some people who take the specific order of those letters very personally. When the notorious "Q" was added to the end of it by certain groups, making it either GLBTQ or LGBTQ the meaning behind that little new letter turned into a very heated debate for some. Did it mean "questioning" or did it mean "queer"? Does it really matter? Can't it mean both, or is the truth behind this entire debate really just another thinly veiled struggle in that seemingly endless war for a sense of self and community? Does another person truly have the power to grant that or withhold it from you? Should another's definition of you be able to carry that much weight? Who are you? Who am I? Like you, I'm just someone who wants to be seen, recognized, accepted and loved for all the beautiful colors I carry within.



Get your pride on over at my CafePress Shop!

Peace. Love. Hope. and Pride.