LGBT symbols

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Genderqueer (LGBTQ) 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. LGBTQ symbols also communicate ideas, concepts and identity both within their communities and to mainstream cultures. The two most-recognized international LGBTQ symbols are the pink triangle and the pride flag. The pink triangle, employed by the Nazis in World War II as a badge of shame was re-appropriated but retained some negative connotations. The Rainbow flag was envisioned and created to be a more organic and natural replacement without any negativity attached to it.

Triangles during World War II

Main articles: Pink triangle and Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust

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. Many of the estimated 5-15,000 gays and lesbians imprisoned in concentration camps perished alongside the 6,000,000 Jews whom the Nazis exterminated during World War II as part of The Holocaust. 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. AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) adopted the inverted pink triangle to symbolize the “active fight back” against HIV/AIDS “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

Pink Triangle	Black Triangle	Pink & Yellow Triangles	Nazi Chart
			File:German concentration camp chart of prisoner markings.jpg
The pink triangle was originally used to denote homosexual men as a Nazi concentration camp badge.	The black triangle was used to mark "asocial" and "workshy" individuals, including prostitutes, Roma and others in the camps. It has been adapted as a lesbian symbol.	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.

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). As a modern symbol, it is often used to represent lesbian and feminist strength and self-sufficiency. In use since the late 1970s.

Lambda

One symbol which continues to remain popular is the lower case Greek letter lambda. The symbol was originally chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970. The GAA was a group which broke away from the larger Gay Liberation Front at the end of 1969, only six months after its foundation in response to the Stonewall Riots. While the GLF wanted to work side by side with the black and women's liberation movements to gain unity and acceptance, the GAA wanted to focus their efforts more concisely on only Gay and Lesbian issues.

Because of its official adoption by the GAA, which sponsored public events for the gay community, the lambda soon became a quick way for the members of the gay community to identify each other. The reasoning was that the lambda would easily be mistaken for a college fraternity symbol and ignored by the majority of the population. Eventually, though, the GAA headquarters was torched by an arsonist, destroying not only the building but all of the organization's records, and the movement never recovered from the loss. The symbol, however, lived on.

What the symbol means, or meant when it was introduced, has been topic for speculation and a number of rumors. Some of the more popular speculations are:

• Simply, the Greek letter "L" stands for "liberation."
• The Greek Spartans believed that the lambda represented unity.
• The Romans took it as meaning "the light of knowledge shining into the darkness of ignorance."
• The charged energy of the gay movement. This stems from the lambda's use in chemistry and physics to denote wavelength in equations, related to energy according to wave-particle duality
• The synergy which results when gays and lesbians work together towards a common goal (a gestalt theory which also stems from the physics-energy theory)
• The notion that straights and gays, or gays and lesbians, or any pairing of these three, are on different wavelengths when it comes to sex, sexuality, or even brain patterns. This again comes from the lambda's presence in chemistry and physics, where it is sometimes used to represent the wavelength of certain types of energy.
• An iconic rendering of the scales of justice and the constant force that keeps opposing sides from overcoming each other. The hook at the bottom of the right leg would then signify the action and initiative needed to reach and maintain balance.
• The lambda is also thought by some to have appeared on the shields of warriors from Sparta (the lambda specifically resulting from the name Laconia.)

The lambda was associated with the Spartans because they were also known as the Lacedaemonians. There is a 1962 Hollywood film called The 300 Spartans starring Diane Baker, Richard Egan, and Ralph Richardson that showed Spartan warriors who appeared to have lambdas on their shields.

Even though at one time it acquired a strictly male connotation, it is used by both gays and lesbians today. Back in December 1974, the lambda was officially declared the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights by the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland. 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

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 Examiner turned tumultuous and were later 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". According to Larry LittleJohn, then president of SIR, "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 surrounded 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." The accounts of police brutality include women being thrown to the ground and protesters' 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 MorEl Eskişehir LGBTT Oluşumu (Purple Hand Eskişehir LGBT Formation), also bears the name of this symbol.

See also: Gay Mafia

Pride flag and colors

Original eight-stripe version designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978

Version with hot pink removed due to fabric unavailability. (1978–1979)

Six-color version popular since 1979. Number of stripes reduced to an even number to prevent middle color from being hidden when hung vertically on lampposts, indigo changed to royal blue

Rainbow flag

Main article: Rainbow flag (LGBT 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. In the original eight-strip version, pink stood for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony and violet for the soul. 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.

Pride colors

Pride colors as part of a street sign in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, in the United States.

The Pride colors are also used on objects other than flags to symbolize LGBT pride, community, solidarity, or other issues.

Freedom rings

Freedom rings, designed by David Spada, are six aluminum rings, each in one of the colors of the rainbow flag. They were originally released in 1991. Symbolizing happiness and diversity, these rings are worn as themselves or as part of necklaces, bracelets, and key chains. They are sometimes 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 Froot Loops cereal.

Bisexuality symbols – flag, triangles, and moons

See also: Bisexual community

First unveiled on 5 December 1998, the bisexual pride flag was designed by Michael Page 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 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. The bisexual moon symbol was created to avoid the use of the Nazi-originated pink triangle.

Gender symbols

Further information: gender symbols § Other gender-related symbols, and sex and gender symbols

Modifications of the classical gender symbol (based on astrological symbols, Mars for male and Venus for female) have appeared to express various LBGT "gender identities" since the 1990s. Pairs of male and female gender symbols are used to form symbols for gay and lesbian. Two interlocking male symbols form a gay male symbol. Two interlocking female symbols form a lesbian symbol. Variations on this theme can be used to represent bisexuals, transgender persons, as well as heterosexuals.

Transgender symbols

Popular transgender symbols, used to identify transvestites, transsexuals, and other transgender people, frequently consist of modified gender symbols combining elements from both the male and female symbols. The most popular version, originating from a drawing by Holly Boswell, depicts a circle with an arrow projecting from the top-right, as per the male symbol, a cross projecting from the bottom, as per the female symbol, and with an additional striked arrow (combining the female cross and male arrow) projecting from the top-left.

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.

=Gender Queer

Genderqueer symbols

Popular Genderqueer symbols, used to identify Genderqueer individuals , frequently consist of interlocking 'G' & 'Q' symbols.

Another Genderqueer symbol is the Genderqueer Pride Flag designed inpart by collaborators on the web and finalised by Marilyn Roxie on 4 September 2010. The flag represents the Genderqueer community and consists of three horizontal stripes of equal width : one lavender, one dark chartreuse green, and one white. The meaning of the Genderqueer flag is as follows:

• Lavender - the mixing of blue and pink (traditional male and female colors, also present on the trans flag); meant to represent those under the GQ umbrella who feel they are both male and female in identity, as well as “queerness”, as for example, lavender has been associated with homosexuality and bisexuality
• Dark Chartreuse Green - the inverse of the lavender color; meant to represent GQ individuals who feel they are neither male nor female in identity,
• White - meant to represent GQ individuals falling completely outside of the gender binary.

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

Bear culture

Bears marching in San Francisco Pride 2004.

Main article: Bear (gay culture)

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" 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.

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

Leather sub-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 "S & M") 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 Tony DeBlase, and he first presented the design at the International Mr. Leather event in Chicago, Illinois, USA on 28 May 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.

— Tony DeBlase

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

Butch and femme symbols

Historically, a blue star has been used as a symbol of butchness. The site Butch-Femme.com uses a black triangle in a red circle to represent butch/femme sexuality.

Asexual

Main article: Asexuality

In August 2010, after a process of trying to get the word out, even outside AVEN and non-English speaking areas a flag was eventually voted on in a non-AVEN site and then elected. It has since been seen used on tumblr in various LGBTQ etc areas, and had in fact been seen alongside other Sexual Orientations flags previous to formal election. The black stripe represents asexuality, the grey stripe grey-asexuality and the demisexuals, the white stripe sexuality and the purple stripe community.

An inverted pink triangle surrounded by a green circle, as used to symbolize alliance with gay rights and space free from homophobia.

Other symbols

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

The polyamory movement has introduced the "love outside the box" symbol for use by polyamorous and non-monogamous people and LGBTQ individuals.

The Pansexual pride flag was designed in order to give the pansexual community its own symbol to increase the visibility of pansexuals, both among society as a whole and within the LGBT community.

RadicalRelationsHeart

RadicalRelationsHeart

The symbol for Relationship anarchy (RA; sometimes known as "Radical Relations") was created by the Swedish radical art collective "Interacting arts" in 2006, as a symbol for those who reject all normative ideas of how relationships "should" be organised.

Purple rhinoceros

Gay activists in Boston chose the purple rhinoceros as a symbol of the gay movement after conducting a media campaign for this purpose (1974), 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. 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 ancient Rome, as in 19th-century England, green indicated homosexual affiliations. Victorian men would often pin a green carnation on their lapel as popularized by author Oscar Wilde, who often sported one on his lapel.

According to some interpretations, American poet Walt Whitman used the calamus plant to represent homoerotic love.

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 from the 1910s to the 50s.

• In the United Kingdom, the Pink Jack has been widely used in recent years to demonstrate a unique British Gay and Lesbian identity.
• In the Society for Creative Anachronism, LGBT members often wear a blue feather to indicate membership in or an affinity for Clan Blue Feather, a group of SCA members promoting the study of homosexuality in the Middle Ages.

See also

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

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• LGBT slogans
• List of symbols
• Logo
• National symbol
• Religious symbolism
• White knot

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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.