What does coloring mean in the gay world
You might be familiar with the six-colored rainbow flag that is widely used to represent the LGBTQ+ community. But did you comprehend that this is a relatively recent rendition of the original?
The original flag (shown here) was designed by activist, veteran, drag queen, and artist, Gilbert Baker, and made its debut at the San Francisco Gay and Womxn loving womxn Freedom Day Pride in 1978. He was inspired by the Rolling Stones song She’s a Rainbow, and the 1960s hippies movement, assigning each paint with a specific meaning:
Pink: Sex (later removed)
Red: Life
Orange: Healing
Yellow: Sunlight
Green: Nature
Turquoise: Magic (later removed)
Indigo: Serenity
Violet: Spirit
The evolution to the six-colored flag used today happened out of practicality.
After the parade in 1978, demand for the Pride Flag increased, but the hot pink fabric was difficult to find in huge quantities. Then, the Paramount Flag Firm started making a version out of the standard rainbow colors to aid meet demand, and a seven-color self-acceptance flag was the new norm.
A year later, the flag evolved once more…
List of Gay terms
A
Abro (sexual and romantic)
A pos used to portray people who possess a fluid sexual and/or romantic orientation which changes over time, or the course of their life. They may use different terms to describe themselves over time.
Ace
An umbrella term used specifically to describe a lack of, varying, or occasional experiences of sexual attraction. This encompasses asexual people as adequately as those who identify as demisexual and grey-sexual. Ace people who encounter romantic attraction or occasional sexual attraction might also employ terms such as gay, bi, womxn loving womxn, straight and gay in conjunction with asexual to explain the direction of their romantic or sexual attraction.
Ace and aro/ace and aro spectrum
Umbrella terms used to describe the wide group of people who encounter a lack of, varying, or occasional experiences of affectionate and/or sexual attraction, including a lack of attraction. People who identify under these umbrella terms may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including, but not limited to, asexual, ace, aromantic, aro, demi, grey, and abro. People may also operate terms such as gay, bi, womxn loving womxn, straight
When two men are negotiating a sexual encounter or even compatibility to hang out, the phrase “What are you into?” will inevitably come from one or both.. Quite often in “Grindr” chat, this is shortened to be simply “into?” — just fond of ships used cyphers (flags) to communicate, we same-sex attracted men have our hold way to communicate sexual preferences and proclivities. It’s called the Hanky Code.
Originating in the early 1970’s in either New York or San Francisco (let’s not even try to settle that debate), the hanky code is a system of signaling sexual preferences, fetishes, and roles by choosing to wear a specifically colored bandana on a particular side of the body. With just a glance at your rear end, (the bandana being tucked in your back pocket) anyone who is in-the-know will know what you’re “into!”
So how do you understand which color to wear, and where to wear it? The first critical variable is the side of the body on which you choose to wear your colors, because this signals your preferred role:
- Left side of the body = Top/Dominant Role
- Right side of the body = Bottom/Submissive Role
As a way to remember which is which, consider that we read left to right, so left comes first. Simila
Flags of the LGBTIQ Community
Flags have always been an integral part of the LGBTIQ+ movement. They are a noticeable representation meant to honor progress, advocate for inclusion, and amplify the ask for and drive for collective action. There have been many LGBTIQ+ flags over the years. Some possess evolved, while others are constantly being conceptualized and created.
Rainbow Flag
Created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, the iconic Pride Rainbow flag originally had eight stripes. The colors included pink to represent sexuality, red for healing, yellow for sun, green for serenity with nature, turquoise for art, indigo for agreement, and violet for soul. In the years since, the flag now has six colors. It no longer has a pink stripe, and the turquoise and indigo stripes were replaced with royal blue.
Progress Pride Flag
Created in 2018 by nonbinary musician Daniel Quasar, the Progress Pride flag is based on the iconic 1978 rainbow flag. With stripes of black and brown to represent marginalized LGBTIQ+ people of color and the triad of cobalt , pink, and white from the trans flag, the design represents diversity and inclusion.
Trans Flag
Conceived by Monica Helms, an
EIU Center For Gender and Sexual Diversity
Symbols within the GSD Community
Rainbow Flag
The rainbow flag has become the easily-recognized colors of celebration for the gay society. The rainbow plays a part in many myths and stories related to gender and sexuality issues in Greek, Aboriginal, African, and other cultures. Exploit of the rainbow flag by the gay collective began in 1978 when it first appeared in the San Francisco Homosexual and Lesbian Freedom Evening Parade. Borrowing symbolism from the hippie movement and black civil rights groups, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag in response to a need for a symbol that could be used year after year. The flag has six stripes, each color acting for a component of the community: red for existence, orange for healing, yellow for sun, green for nature, royal blue for harmony, and violet for spirit.
The rainbow flag has inspired a wide variety of related symbols and accessories, such as liberty rings. There are plenty of variations of the flag, including versions with superimposed lambdas, pink triangles, or other symbols. Some recent flags have added a brown and ebony stripe as a reminder of how important the intersectiona