Symbols Encourage Sexual Diversity

When I left the environment in which my culture and language were dominant, I realized the importance of them in my life. As part of a majority group, I had the privilege to be able to take certain things, like my language, for granted. I am bisexual. This is not something that I have always known. Before I reached this realization I never questioned my assumption that heterosexuality was the only normal expression of sexuality. I have come to believe heterosexuality is not normal; it's just more common. Until I started acknowledging that there was such a thing as sexual diversity, I understood neither the concept of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) Pride nor its importance.

Pride symbols, just like symbols used by other communities, are a way for members of the LGBT community to externalize their pride, because sexual orientation is not something that is externally noticeable.

Two of the most recognized pride symbols are the pink triangle and the Rainbow Flag. In Nazi concentration camps the pink triangle was for homosexuals condemned to death. In the 1970's, gay liberation groups resurrected the pink triangle as a popular symbol for the gay rights movement. Today, for many, the pink triangle represents pride, solidarity, and a promise to never allow another Holocaust to happen again.

In 1978, Gilbert Baker of San Francisco designed and made a flag representing the colors of the rainbow as a symbol of gay and lesbian community pride. The flag had eight stripes, each color representing a component of the community. The six-color version first appeared in the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade. Slowly the flag took hold, offering a colorful and optimistic alternative to the more common pink triangle symbol. Today it is recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers and is flown in lesbian and gay pride marches worldwide.

Last week, in the spirit of the erosPRIDE Month, E.R.O.S. (Encouraging Respect Of Sexualities) raised the Rainbow flag on Trinity's flagpole to recognize National Coming Out day. The National Coming Out Project is an ongoing campaign (sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign) to encourage and empower every lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered person to make a difference. Every October 11, National Coming Out Day serves as the day to commemorate the importance of this single act of courage. On October 12, the flag was still up in remembrance of the tragedy of Matthew Shepard's murder on the one year anniversary of his death. Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, died after he was beaten beyond recognition and abandoned on a rough-hewn fence.