World News for Students of English

30-06-2021 07:00

The rainbow pride flag’s one of the most recognizable symbols in the world; however, it wasn’t always so ubiquitous.

Its predecessors included a lavender rhinoceros, the Greek letter lambda and the pink triangle, all of which have their own separate meanings and histories. However, they weren’t accepted by all of the LGBTQ community.

The history of the rainbow flag starts in the 1970s with an artist and activist, Gilbert Baker, who became fascinated with flags, and he found them very powerful. The very first rainbow pride flag was designed and handmade by Baker and a group of volunteers for the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade. Originally eight colors, the flag’s stripes stood for sex, life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic, serenity, and spirit. After the parade, the rainbow pride symbol spread beyond the city.

After Baker’s death in 2017, his rainbow flag’s continued to live on and change through redesigns with black and brown stripes, that add visibility to the fact that the pride movement was led by transgender people of color.

Difficult words: ubiquitous (appearing or found everywhere), predecessor (a thing that’s been followed or replaced by another), LGBTQ (meaning lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning people), serenity(peace).

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