What is the significance of the Rainbow Flag and the Pink Triangle?
The Rainbow Flag is an international symbol of Gay and Lesbian Pride. The flag was conceived by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco resident, who made the first one by hand. He then had copies of the flag made, which were first flown at San Francisco’s Pride events in 1978. The flag (with its 6 horizontal stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple) represents the diversity, yet unity, of the gay and lesbian community. Heritage of Pride introduced rainbow flags to the East coast in 1986. The inverted pink triangle was used to mark male homosexuals in the concentration camps of Hitler’s Third Reich; while lesbians, female dissidents, and prostitutes were forced to wear black triangles. Both the pink and black triangles have now been adopted by many in the gay community as symbols of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pride and determination.
