Many people have probably seen at least one of these symbols and not known what it was, but we are going to explain them. The LGBT community has created various symbols in an effort to help them self-identify or show who they are to others. Using tattoos as identifiers can make people feel more comfortable because they know that part of their community is present, whether that is seeing someone with an equal sign at a new university or being in a club and seeing purple hands on the walls.Īll in all, tattoos serve many purposes in the LGBT community, and they are a positive means to meet people and start up a conversation. Of course, it is not always about finding a date by spotting LGBT tattoos. Perhaps there is enough to start a romantic adventure. If a gay guy spots another dude with a freedom rings tattoo, the chances are that they have some common ground. In that sense, it’s very easy for gay people to identify one another by their ink, so there is no confusion or misinterpretation between them. Today chatting has become a daily routine for everyone, so this method helps to relieve some pressure for shy and self-conscious people. Besides local meeting points like bars and nightclubs where they can identify other people by these symbols, there are dating services where you can go straight to gay chat and find like-minded individuals at your fingertips. Despite recent changes, this quest is still more challenging for them than finding dates for heterosexuals. Gay people may benefit from thematic tattoos in the context of finding a romantic partner. In that sense, tattoos have become a self-identification tool among gay, bi, lesbian, and trans people. Some members of the LGBT community have taken to getting tattoos as a way to demonstrate their identity proudly. Couple Tattoos for Long-Term Partners Tattoo as a Self-Identification Symbol Designed for one parade in 1978, it's now one of the most recognized symbols in the world.3. The LGBT pride version of the flag designed by Gilbert Baker has become the most famous of the rainbow flags. And in Peru and Bolivia, the rainbow "Flag of Cusco" is a symbol of the indigenous Inca people. The Jewish Autonomous Oblast based in Birobidzhan, a sort of satellite government of Russia located on the Chinese border in Birobidzhan, uses a rainbow flag as its own symbol. In Italy, it's used as a symbol of peace, often with the word "PACE" written in white across the flag's stripes. In 2001, one version added a black stripe for AIDs awareness.Īside from LGBT pride, rainbow flags have other historic and political meanings that persist today. One version unfurled in Philadelphia this year added black and brown, for racial inclusivity. The flag has been modified in different places at different times. The White House illuminated in rainbow colors after 2015's Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. Judy Garland, the star of "The Wizard of Oz," has a large following as a gay symbol, and is famous for singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in the movie. The rainbow also has some pop culture significance for the LGBT community.
The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things." We needed something beautiful, something from us. It came from such a horrible place of murder and holocaust and Hitler. "It was necessary to have the Rainbow Flag because up until that we had the pink triangle from the Nazis - it was the symbol that they would use. The rainbow flag was a way of taking these various colors and turning them into a coherent symbol, reclaimed by the LGBT community. During the Holocaust, Nazis forced gay men to wear pink triangles as a symbol of sexual deviance. Oscar Wilde wore a green carnation, and yellow served the same purpose in Australia, and purple provided that function in some communities in the United States. I realized I would have to make some compromises in order for this to really function as a symbol."Ĭloseted gay people have also historically used bright colors to signal their homosexuality to each other, as Forrest Wickman wrote in Slate. "Even to do four-color printing for photographs like this was complicated. " One of the reasons I had to adapt the eight-color version to the six-color version of the flag - the one we use today - is because in 1978 eight colors was expensive," Baker told the Museum of Modern Art. The longest rainbow pride flag ever, in Key West in 2003.Īndy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau/Getty Images