LGBT symbols

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities have adopted certain symbols and symbolates for which they are identified and by which they demonstrate unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. LGBT symbols also communicate ideas, concepts and identity both within their communities and to mainstream cultures. Arguably the two most-recognized international LGBT symbols are the pink triangle and the rainbow flag.

Background

Although it seems clear that LGBT people have existed in every culture throughout human history, much of written history omits their place in their societies. Today, many societies continue to disparage non-heteronormative values and mores. LGBT people were forced to hide their behavior and identity in order to avoid ridicule, imprisonment and, in many cases, death. This continues today, though in fewer areas than would have been seen in the past. Until the late 20th Century, it was widely believed in the Western world that non-mainstream forms of sexuality and gender-identity were mental illnesses. Even in countries which have historically been tolerant of homosexuality, it was often seen as a youthful behaviour, subordinate to getting married and having children, and most homosexuals were unable to express their identity outside of this societal framework.

A new period of liberalism in the late 1960s began a new era of more social acceptance for LGBT people with the feminist and black liberation movements building momentum for gay rights acceptance. Widely considered the spark of the modern gay rights movement, the Stonewall Riots in New York City helped launch a worldwide tradition of gay pride parades which in turn prompted more LGBT people to look for and embrace symbols of significance to their lives and experiences. Increased communication owing to the Internet and other media have allowed Asian and African LGBT people in particular access to a community in which they can be represented.

Labrys

The Labrys

Main article: Labrys

The labrys, or double-bladed battle axe, was a symbol used in the ancient civilization of Minoan Crete (sometimes portrayed as having certain matriarchal tendencies), and in ancient Greek legends it was supposedly used by Scythian Amazon women warriors (sometimes said to be ruled by two queens at a time). It can also be associated with the Greek goddess Demeter (Ceres in Roman mythology) and occasionally the Greek goddess Artemis (Diana in Roman mythology). The labrys is often used used to represent lesbian and feminist strength and self-sufficiency.

Triangles during World War II

Main article: Pink triangle

One of the oldest of these symbols is the pink triangle, which originated from the Nazi concentration camp badges that homosexuals were required to wear on their clothing. It is estimated that as many as 220,000 gays and lesbians perished alongside the 6,000,000 Jews whom the Nazis exterminated in their death camps during World War II as part of Hitler’s so-called final solution. For this reason, the pink triangle is used both as an identification symbol and as a memento to remind both its wearers and the general public of the atrocities that gays suffered under Nazi persecutors. ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) also adopted the inverted pink triangle to symbolize the “active fight back” against the disease “rather than a passive resignation to fate.”

While the pink triangle was used exclusively with male prisoners, lesbians were not included under Paragraph 175. However, women were arrested and imprisoned for "antisocial behavior," which include anything from feminism, lesbianism, and prostitution to any woman who didn't conform to the ideal Nazi image of a woman: cooking, cleaning, kitchen work, child raising, passive, etc. These women were labeled with a black triangle. Modern-day lesbians have reclaimed this symbol for themselves as gay men have reclaimed the pink triangle.

• Triangles
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  The pink triangle was originally used to denote homosexual men as a Nazi concentration camp badge.
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  The black triangle was used to mark "asocial" and "workshy" individuals, including prostitutes, Roma and others in Nazi concentration camps. It has been argued that it included lesbians, but this is disputed. The badge has been taken up as a lesbian symbol.
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  The pink triangle overlapping a yellow triangle was used to tag Jewish homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps.
• A chart, circa 1938 - 1942, of prisoner markings used in German concentration camps. The 5th column from the left was for homosexual men.
  A chart, circa 1938 - 1942, of prisoner markings used in German concentration camps. The 5th column from the left was for homosexual men.

See also: History of gays in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust

Lambda

A lambda

In 1970, the Greek letter lambda (λ) was selected to symbolize the Gay Activists Alliance’s campaign for gay liberation, and, four years later, the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, chose the same symbol to represent lesbian and gay rights. As a result, the lambda has become internationally known. It is traditional for the lambda to be shown in lavender, a color which, like pink, is often associated with homosexuality. In physics the lambda represents wavelength, associated with energy, and therefore is used to symbolize the energy of the Gay Rights Movement. Also, the lambda is said to signify unity under oppression. The gay rights organization Lambda Legal and the American Lambda Literary Award derive their names from this symbol.

Purple hand

Purple hand from the 1970s.

On Halloween night (31 October), 1969, sixty members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Society for Individual Rights (SIR) staged a protest at San Francisco's Examiner in response to another in a series of news articles disparaging LGBT people in San Francisco's gay bars and clubs. The "peaceful protest" against the "homophobic editorial policies" of the San Francisco Examiner turned "tumultuous" and was called "Friday of the Purple Hand" and "Bloody Friday of the Purple Hand". Examiner employees "dumped a bag of printers' ink from the third story window of the newspaper building onto the crowd". Some reports were that it was a barrel of ink poured from the roof of the building. The protestors "used the ink to scrawl "Gay Power" and other slogans on the building walls" and stamp purple hand prints "throughout downtown San Francisco" resulting in "one of the most visible demonstrations of gay power".

At that point, the tactical squad arrived -- not to get the employees who dumped the ink, but to arrest the demonstrators who were the victims. The police could have surround the Examiner building...but, no, they went after the gays...Somebody could have been hurt if that ink had gotten into their eyes, but the police came racing in with their clubs swinging, knocking people to the ground. it was unbelievable.
-- Larry LittleJohn, then president of SIR

The accounts of police brutality include women being thrown to the ground and protester's teeth being knocked out.

Inspired by "Black Hand" (La Mano Nera in Italian) extortion methods of Camorra gangsters and the Mafia, some activists attempted to institute "purple hand" as a gay and lesbian symbol as a warning to stop anti-gay attacks, with little success. In Turkey, the LGBT rights organization Purple Hand Eskişehir LGBT Formation (MorEl Eskişehir LGBTT Oluşumu), also bears the name of this symbol.

See also: Gay Mafia

Rainbow flag

Current version of the gay pride flag

Main article: Rainbow flag (gay movement)

Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag for the 1978 San Francisco's Gay Freedom Celebration. The flag does not depict or show an actual rainbow. Rather, the colors of the rainbow are displayed as horizontal stripes, with red at the top and purple at the bottom. It represents the diversity of gays and lesbians around the world. The purple stripe is sometimes replaced with a black stripe to show masculinity or leather pride. Red stands for life, orange stands for healing, yellow stands for the sun, green stands for nature, blue stands for harmony, and purple stands for the soul. The original rainbow flag had two additional stripes: a pink stripe and an aqua stripe. These two colors are in the Bisexual Double Triangle and the bright pink is also similar to the Pink Triangle. The original eight color rainbow flag flies over the Castro in San Francisco and from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center in New York City.

Physical flag, in the wind.

Gay and lesbian gender symbols

Pairs of male gender symbols and female gender symbols are used to form symbols for gay and lesbian, respectively. Variations on this theme can be used to represent bisexuals and transsexuals.

• Venus and Mars signs
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  Two interlocking male symbols form a gay male symbol.
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  Two interlocking female symbols form a lesbian symbol.

Freedom rings

Freedom rings, designed by David Spada, are six aluminum rings, each in one of the colors of the rainbow flag. Symbolizing independence and tolerance, these rings are worn as themselves or as part of necklaces, bracelets, and key chains. They're often referred to as "Fruit Loops". For National Coming Out Day (held in the United States on 11 October) students have made home-made versions of the "freedom rings" with actual Fruit Loops cereal. A subtle distinction often ignored is if the red ring is toward the wearer's right hand, they are gay. If the red ring is toward the left hand, they are straight and gay-friendly.

Bisexuality

The blue and pink overlapping triangle symbol represents bisexuality and bi pride. The exact origin of this symbol, sometimes facetiously referred to as the "biangles", remains ambiguous. It is popularly thought that the pink triangle may represent homosexuality, as it does when it stands alone, while the blue stands for heterosexuality. The two together form the color lavender, a blend of both sexual orientations and a color that has been associated with homosexuality for almost a century. It's also possible that the pink may represent attraction to females, the blue attraction to males and lavender attraction to both.

In 1988, Michael Page designed a bisexual pride flag to represent the bisexual community. This rectangular flag consists of a broad magenta stripe at the top, representing same-gender attraction; a broad stripe in blue at the bottom, representing opposite-gender attraction; and a narrower deep lavender band occupying the central fifth, which represents attraction towards both genders.

The bisexual moon symbol was created to avoid the use of the Nazi-originated pink triangle.

• Bisexuality
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  Overlapping triangles.
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  Bisexual Pride flag.
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  Bisexual moon symbol.

Transgender symbol

Popular transgender symbols, used to identify transvestites, transsexuals, and other transgender people, frequently consist of a modified biological symbol, originating from a drawing by Holly Boswell. In addition to the arrow projecting from the top right of the circle that comprises the biological symbol for the male (from the astrological symbol for Mars), and in addition to the cross projecting from the bottom of the circle that comprises the biological symbol for the female (from the astrological symbol for Venus), the symbol incorporates both these devices as well as a cross topped by an arrowhead (combining the male and the female motifs) which projects from the top left of the circle. (See also: Gender symbols)

Another transgender symbol is the Transgender Pride flag designed by Monica Helms, and first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, USA in 2000. The flag represents the transgender community and consists of five horizontal stripes, two light blue, two pink, with a white stripe in the center. Helms described the meaning of the flag as follows:

The light blue is the traditional color for baby boys, pink is for girls, and the white in the middle is for those who are transitioning, those who feel they have a neutral gender or no gender, and those who are intersex. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it will always be correct. This symbolizes us trying to find correctness in our own lives."

Other transgender symbols include the butterfly (symbolizing transformation or metamorphosis), and a pink/light blue yin and yang symbol.

• Transgender
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  Universal transgender symbol.
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  Transgender Pride flag.

Bear community

The International Bear Brotherhood Flag designed in 1995 by Craig Byrnes(VA Copyright 760-763), digital graphic by Paul Witzkoske for Bear Manufacturing

Bear is an affectionate gay slang term for those in the bear communities, a subculture in the gay community and an emerging subset of LGBT communities with events, codes and culture specific identity. Bears tend to have hairy bodies and facial hair; some are heavy-set; some project an image of working-class masculinity in their grooming and appearance, though none of these are requirements or unique indicators. The bear concept can function as an identity, an affiliation, and an ideal to live up to, and there is ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitutes a bear. Some state that self-identifying as a bear is the only requirement, while others argue that bears must have certain physical characteristics--such as a hairy chest and face or having a large body--and a certain mode of dress and behavior.

Bears marching in San Francisco Pride 2004.

"Bears" are almost always gay or bisexual men although increasingly transgender men and those who shun labels for gender and sexuality are also included within bear communities. The Bear community has spread all over the world, with Bear clubs in many countries. Bear clubs often serve as social and sexual networks for older, hairier, sometimes heavier gay and bisexual men, and members often contribute to their local gay communities through fundraising and other functions. Bear events are common in heavily-gay communities.

Leather sub-culture

The Leather Pride flag. Although most often associated with the gay community, many heterosexuals are also involved in the culture.

Leather culture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities and eroticism ("kink"). Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Leather culture is most visible in gay communities and most often associated with gay men ("leathermen"), but it is also reflected in various ways in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and straight worlds. Many people associate leather culture with BDSM (Bondage/Discipline, Dominance/Submission, Sado/Masochism, also called "SM") practice. But for others, wearing black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles and independence; and engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.

The Leather Pride Flag was designed by Henry Laster, and he first presented the design at the International Mr. Leather event in Chicago, Illinois, USA on May 28, 1989.

"The flag is composed of nine horizontal stripes of equal width. From the top and from the bottom, the stripes alternate black and royal blue. The central stripe is white. In the upper left quadrant of the flag is a large red heart. I will leave it to the viewer to interpret the colors and symbols."

Another name that is used to describe the leather flag is "Black and Blue with Love".

Other symbols

File:Purple Rhino.gif

Purple rhinoceros from 1974. Lavender was used because it was a widely recognized gay pride color and the heart was added to represent love and the "common humanity of all people."

In addition to these major symbols of the GLBT community, other lesser symbols have been used to represent members’ unity, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another.

• American poet Walt Whitman used the calamus plant to represent homoerotic love.
• Nineteenth-century poets used the ladslove plant to symbolize homosexuality.
• In ancient Rome, as in 19th-century England, green indicated homosexual affiliations. Victorian men would often pin a green carnation to their lapel as a signal.
• Since the first century, the hare, the hyena, and the weasel have been associated with male homosexuality.
• In the early years of the 20th century, a red necktie was worn by some men to signal their homosexuality to others.
• The pinky ring was a fashionable jewelry accessory for male homosexuals during the 1950’s through the 1970’s.
• Gay activists in Boston chose the purple rhinoceros as a symbol of the gay movement after conducting a media campaign for this purpose, selecting this animal because, although it is sometimes misunderstood, it is really both docile and intelligent - but when a rhinoceros is angered, it fights ferociously.
• Lesbians in the mid-twentieth century would tattoo a blue star on a part of the body, commonly the arm, that could be covered during the day and revealed at night/in clubs.
• Bisexual women and lesbians would give violets to the woman they were wooing, symbolizing their "Sapphic" desire. Sappho described, in a poem, herself and a lover wearing garlands of violets. The giving of violets was popular in the 1920's, 30's and 40's.
• In the United Kingdom, the Pink Jack has been widely used in recent years to demonstrate a unique British Gay and Lesbian identity.

See also

• Dramatic symbol
• Emblem
• Glyph
• Grapheme
• Hanky code
• Icon (religious) and secular icon

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• List of common symbols
• List of symbols
• Logo
• National symbol
• Religious symbolism

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External links

• http://www.swade.net/gallery/symbols.html shows images of some of these symbols and offers a brief historical account of each of them.