SUBSCRIBE HERE to have Cosmopolitan delivered to your door. I’d love to see a flag for queer women that I can identify with.” If new flags, or more inclusive versions of our flags make people feel more seen and affirmed I’m all for it. “ I think symbology expands and changes as cultures and society changes. The history of the term lipstick lesbian and the eye-roll worthy multi-pink flag makes me feel like that particular identity is used as a means of straight-washing a queer identity and phenomenon. I self-identify as femme because for me, I’m not feminine-presenting because society tells me to, but because my gender expression most accurately reflects my perception of self. During this period of time, the term ‘lipstick lesbian’ became part of popular vernacular when it was featured on an episode of Ellen. “At the time, gender variation was not as accepted in mainstream media. In the 90s and early 00s ‘lipstick lesbian chic’ became a trend in media where feminine-presenting lesbians were pushed forward as more ‘normal’ than their gender non-conforming counterparts in the community. “Unfortunately, there was very little lesbian representation in the media at the time and some femme-presenting lesbians started self-identifying as ‘lipstick lesbians’. "I’d love to see a flag for queer women that I can identify with" None of them have caught on in the way the Pride flag or the trans flags have caught on. Lesbians have had several variations of flags over the years. Meg Cale, the former LGBTQ+ rights activist behind website, says, “The rainbow flag is a universally recognised symbol of queerness that is helpful in identifying queer-friendly people and places. It helps those who are most marginalised to find their safe spaces, find belonging, and find their tribe.” “The rainbow flag is wonderful, but it is empowering to fly your own flag too. In 1978, Gilbert Baker of San Francisco designed and made a flag with six stripes representing the six colors of the rainbow as a symbol of gay and lesbian. This is great, I don’t like how gay men are represented purely by the rainbow flag, the rainbow flag is the LGBT+ flag It encompasses everyone in the LGBT+ community, not only gay men, and so I think it’s good that we’ve got our own pride flag, now for all types of gay men too, and the design looks really good 2. That’s just one of the reasons that having our own colours is important," says Carrie Lyell, editor of DIVA magazine, Europe’s best-selling magazine for lesbians and bi women. Despite featuring prominently in the acronym, lesbians too have been made to feel unwelcome and uncomfortable in 'gay' spaces, where unchecked misogyny is allowed to fester. When we’re not erased completely, we’re vilified and attacked. Popularity spiked again a decade later when a West Hollywood resident sued his landlord over the right to hang his flag outside his residence.“ Bisexual people, trans people, intersex people and people of colour have too often been all but invisible within the LGBTQI community.
After the assassination of Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978, demand for the rainbow banner only increased. Baker then took the design to Paramount Flag Company, which sold a version of the flag without hot pink and turquoise, which were replaced with blue for practicality purposes. It was first showcased at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978.Īfter the design was unveiled, participants of the parade proudly waved the new symbol in solidarity. With the help of close to 30 volunteers working in the attic of the Gay Community Center in San Francisco, Baker was able to construct the first draft of the now world-renowned rainbow flag. At the top was hot pink, which represented sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow signifying sunlight, green for nature, turquoise to represent art, indigo for harmony, and finally violet at the bottom for spirit. The original flag featured eight colors, each having a different meaning. The different colors within the flag were meant to represent togetherness, since LGBT people come in all races, ages and genders, and rainbows are both natural and beautiful.