Queer Easter 2001

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Gay and Lesbian symbols

The History of the Bi Pride Flag

by Michael Page.

The first Bi Pride Flag was unveiled on Dec 5, 1998. The intent and purpose of the flag is to maximize bisexual pride and visibility.

As a result of volunteer work I was doing for BiNet USA, it occurred to me that if bi people were going to be visible at pride events and political rallies, we needed a Bi Pride Flag. At that time, there were, in my opinion, no suitable bisexual icons that were colorful or prominent enough to gain instant and long lasting recognition as a flag. At the time, there were bi angles - an inverted double triangle, the bi symbol - a 3 looped symbol created by Amazon Woman and various shaped symbols created to represent local groups of bi people.

There is no question that bi people have helped foster the gay and lesbian movement we have witnessed since the Stonewall riots of 1969. One problem for bisexuals remains their invisibility. This was also a problem for gays and lesbians prior to 1969 as very few were willing to "come out". 

In 1978, Gilbert Baker of San Francisco, who I personally met in Italy at World Pride 2000, created the Rainbow Flag. Each color held it's own meaning and was intended to represent diversity of the gay and lesbian community. The effective mass visibility of this icon is indisputable. 

Based on my own personal experience, the vast majority of bi people I have spoken with, feel no connection to the rainbow flag, the pink triangle, the black triangle, the Lambda symbol or the double-edged hatchet. These symbols are viewed as gay and lesbian icons, which was their initial intent. Search the history of the rainbow flag on the Internet and you will see what I mean.

It is my belief that bi people need their own flags and symbols to rally around. I believe we (GLBT - Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered) are at times extremely united, but in our communities usually separate. 

In designing the Bi Pride Flag, I selected the colors and overlap pattern of the bi angles symbol. I selected, which to me, is the most attractive combination of pink, purple and blue. In flag-maker parlance this is magenta, lavender and royal. I decided to make the top of the flag pink and would give it 40% of the horizontal dimension. Purple, which is the resultant color when you overlap pink and blue, would be the middle stripe and would be 20% of the dimension. The lower 40% would be blue.

The pink color represents same sex attraction (gay and lesbian), the blue represents attraction to the opposite sex (straight) and the resultant overlap color purple represents sexual attraction to both (bi). The key to understanding the symbolism of the Bi Pride Flag is to know that the purple pixels of color blend unnoticeably into both the pink and blue just as in the "real world" where bi people blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight communities. 

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