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LGBT gets a new flag - reinventing the visible light spectrum

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For Amber Hikes and many others in the LGBT community, the lights were a powerful symbol of a government's support for a marginalized community that had historically struggled to be recognized, much less openly supported.

Now Hikes, a black queer woman, is excited about a new gay-rights symbol: a pride flag with additional black and brown stripes above the rest of the rainbow. The stripes represent LGBT individuals of color, a group that can often be overlooked within the overall LGBT umbrella.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/13/healt...rs-trnd/?iid=ob_homepage_deskrecommended_pool


Symbolically it makes sense and fits with the idea of a community made up of many different people into one community. But aesthetically the flag has never been pleasing to my eye. Let's get a cool new flag for post DADT/Marriage equality!
 

amar212

Member
Okay, but if that is the logic than more than one particular "color" is missing.

I know this comment will be unpopular and Eurogaf here, but the logic should be logic.
 
When I showed this to my gay black friend, he really didn't like it.

Since he's experienced racism within the gay community, he sees this as the LGBTQ community trying to say, "Hey, black and brown folk, we see you now. We accept you now." He was pretty insulted.
 

Nepenthe

Member
Gay POC here. I don't see the point. Isn't the flag supposed to represent everyone? That's why it's a rainbow, every color of visible light?

The colors technically never represented people, but rather stood for different ideals like "unity" and things like that.

I would also probably put the brown somewhere between the warmer colors; make it blend in a little better. Black is black; it can go anywhere.
 

AlteredBeast

Fork 'em, Sparky!
Looks terrible, the colors should have been more naturally integrated into the overall piece, rather than tacked on to the top.
 

Replicant

Member
As a gay man, I always find the LGBT flag is a bit...well, tacky. This isn't any better either. Was hoping for something more subtle.

Oh well.
 

Tuck

Member
No, it doesn't make sense at all actually.

I'll preface this by saying I'm a brown, gay man. There is much to be said about how people of color are treated in the LGBT community. That is, not particularly well; there is a clear higharchy: whites at the top, blacks at the bottom and everyone else in between. I do believe this needs to be tackled, and that it often gets swept under the rug.

I do not like this new flag however. In fact, I might just actively hate it. The first reason is a bit shallow: its ugly. You have the rainbow.... and then black and brown. It doesn't fit and it doesn't really look nice.

The second, more important reason is that the pride flag does not explicitly include ethnicites and thats the point. Its supposed to be a sign of welcome for everyone. This betrays that completely. By adding black and brown, they are taking away from that underlying theme.

What about Asians (Which itself is a group of a wide range of unique cultures) ? What about Latinos? First Nations? Shouldn't they get representation here too? Thats the problem this flag introduces, and its a problem the original avoids by design. The original flag implicitly includes everyone by explicitly including no one. This flag explicitly includes only two groups and therefore explicitly excludes everyone who doesn't get their own color. I see this as leading to quite the slippery slope where everyone else needs their own color on one flag and suddenly we have just as many colors as we have in the LGBT*.... acronym (which is to say, a lot).

Different ethnic groups are not supposed to have their own color on the flag because it betrays the point of the flag, which is to unify. This divides. This reminds us how fractured the LGBT community is. Now, maybe to some thats a good thing. It shows people how far we have to go. But that turns it into a symbol of negativity, wheres its supposed to by a symbol of happiness and well, pride.

When I showed this to my gay black friend, he really didn't like it.

Since he's experienced racism within the gay community, he sees this as the LGBTQ community trying to say, "Hey, black and brown folk, we see you now. We accept you now." He was pretty insulted.

This. It feels like scraps. Like "Ok, sure if you insist, you can have your own special place on the flag, separate from the rest of us"
 
Okay, but if that is the logic than more than one particular "color" is missing.

I know this comment will be unpopular and Eurogaf here, but the logic should be logic.
#AllLivesMatter

The colors technically never represented people, but rather stood for different ideals like "unity" and things like that.

I would also probably put the brown somewhere between the warmer colors; make it blend in a little better. Black is black; it can go anywhere.

Agreed. Aesthetically, the black would be perfect on the bottom of the flag. Symbolically that probably wouldn't go over well.
 
I think it's a bit silly myself (easy to say as a straight white man I suppose)

Love the iconic flag and I think it does a good job as is without having to change to bring a race element into it.
 
Purely from a branding perspective, it's way too late to shift the movement towards a new symbol. Same reason why LGBT is still generally the standard monicker, rather than a more inclusive acronym.
 

RedHill

Banned
I don't like it. The old flag is so iconic and integrated in our community and this will only further ostracize POC from the LGBT community. Do more to make POC feel welcome in the community instead of adding brown and black to a flag
 

riotous

Banned
My first reaction was "Awesome" but then after a little thought I'm not so sure; the other colors don't represent races so messaging wise it kind of becomes odd.

But I'm a straight white man so I don't have a leg to stand on in this.
 
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