LGBTQ Alliance - The Pride Flag
What does the Pride Flag mean?
The Pride Flag, or rainbow flag, is a symbol of the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ rights movement.
This type of flag has been used by the community since 1978, when its designer, Gilbert Baker, hand-dyed the first one. It flew in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25.
Where do the colors of the flag come from?
The original flag had eight colors, each with a specific meaning: hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic/art, indigo for serenity/harmony, and violet for spirit.
After the November 27, 1978 assassination of Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man elected to public office in California, demand for the flags increased so much that it outstripped the availability of hot pink fabric. To keep up production, the hot pink stripe was dropped.
Later, when the flags were frequently being hung vertically from San Francisco lampposts, the center stripe of color would be obscured by the post itself. The easiest way to fix this was to give the flag an even number of stripes, so turquoise was dropped, leaving us with the six-stripe flag we have today.
Are there other flags like the rainbow flag?
Many subcultures which deal with gender and sexuality have adopted flags of their own. These frequently involve some variation on the "colorful horizontal stripes" pattern.
Examples include the Bisexual Pride flag; Transgender and Bigender Pride flags; the Leather Pride flag; the International Bear Brotherhood flag; and the BDSM Rights Flag.
What is the history of Wheaton's rainbow flag?
Our handmade, 21-foot flag was created by Monique Wright, graduate of the class of '07.
The flag was first hung on the chapel for Pride Week 2007, and has also been used in various Alliance events, including as a backdrop for the annual drag show.
What's the deal with our flag?
On Thursday, October 22, 2009, around 5:30 AM, the Pride Flag was noticed missing from the chapel, where it had been hanging in honor of Pride Month. The wooden frame to which the flag was attached was later found on the steps of the side entrance of Knapton Hall, but the flag itself had been cut from the frame.
According to Safe Zone director Nadia Omar, many reasons have been put forth for the flag's theft, "including that someone had a lot of pride to show or someone was very cold. The best theory is that some people wanted to start a large gay community under a rainbow tent deep within the woods. None have been confirmed."
If you’ve seen an absurdly large rainbow flag, blanket, or tent, please report it to Public Safety. Or if you prefer to return it anonymously, please drop the flag off outside of the Office of Student Life.