Every year in June, people in the LGBT+ community and their
allies celebrate the “month of pride” to honor the Stonewall uprising: the
historic event that marked the beginning of the modern movement for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender flag and rights (LGBT+) around the world.
Hundreds of Pride parades are held around the world to
celebrate this month. If you happen to participate in any one of the parades,
you must have seen people with colorful outfits featuring different LGBT bi
flag, pride colors and symbols.
Even if you don’t belong to the LGBT+ community, you are
sure to be familiar with the popular rainbow flag which is meant to represent all
the identities and spectrums belonging to LGBT+ community.
But did you know, each color of the Pride flag denotes a
separate identity in the LGBT+ community? In fact, there’s a separate flag
called “Bisexual flag”, dedicated to the only bisexual community, meant to give
them a specific representation as compared to the Gay Pride Flag of the larger
LGBT+ community.
Back in the day, bisexual individuals were often
marginalized and neglected— even within the LGBT+ community, so several
activists decided to adopt separate symbols to celebrate bi pride significantly
and to maximize bi visibility at LGBT+ Pride parades and events.
Here are 7 interesting facts to know about Bisexual flag,
bi-symbols and its emoji:
Michael
Page designed the “Bisexual flag”
Michael Page was the one who designed the Bisexual Flag in
1998. He observed that most of the individuals of the bisexual community could
not relate to the rainbow Pride flag. So, he decided to create a special flag
with symbols that all the members of the bisexual community could rally around.
His aim was to increase the visibility of bisexual
individuals among both the LGBT+ community and society as a whole. Page stated
that the flag was “for free and commercial use” and it was “not patented,
trademarked, or service marked.”
The
flag was first introduced at the anniversary of BiCafé
The Bisexual flag was
unveiled on December 5th, 1998. The day marked the first anniversary
of BiCafe. It means that the flag is 21 years old.
The Bisexual
flag features three different colors – Pink, Yellow, Blue Flag!
The Bisexual Pride flag consists of three different colored
stripes such as a broad magenta stripe, a thin lavender strip, and a broad blue
stripe. This flag is probably the most popular Pride flag after the rainbow
LGBT+ Pride flag.
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Each
color of the flag has a specific meaning
The designer, Michael Page, claims that each color of the Bi
Pride Flag denotes a specific meaning.
The meanings of these colors are as follows:
–
-The broad magenta or pink stripe represents
people having same-gender attraction such as gay or lesbian.
–
-The broad blue stripe signifies people having
opposite-gender attraction (people are often described as “straight”)
–
-The thin purple or lavender-colored stripe (a
fusion of both blue and pink color), symbolizing people having both same and
opposite gender attraction (bi people)
However, the most important aspect of this flag is the lavender
or purple stripe. While describing the meaning behind the colors of the Bi
Pride flag, designer Michael Page states, “The key to understanding the
symbolism of the Bisexual pride flag is to know that the purple pixels of color
blend unnoticeably into both the pink and blue, as in the ‘real world,’ where
bi people blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight
communities.”
Page
used two upside-down overlapping triangles to symbolize bisexuality and pride
Apart from the bi pride flag, the “bi angles” (also written
as “biangles”) symbol are also used to present bisexuality. But this symbol has
been around long before Page used it for bisexuality.
The accurate origin of this symbol is still unclear, but
some theorists believe that the colors may denote feminine, masculine, and
non-binary sexual attractions. But this belief doesn’t rule out the possibility
that these colors represent the same meaning as the Bi Pride flag, for example,
the pink color signifies similar gender attraction, and blue signifies straight
people, while overlapping colors represent bisexuality.
In fact, lavender has long been used to denote LGBT+
community, so there’s a possibility that this color may be a reference of
queerness.
The
inspiration behind “bi angles” came from another Pride symbol
According to Michael Page, the color scheme used in the bi
angles symbol is borrowed from another Pride symbol. He got this inspiration
from the pink triangle symbol, usually used for representing the LGBT+
community, most particularly gay men.
However, the use of this pink triangle is largely
controversial because of its origin. The symbol was used as a concentration
camp badge enforced upon gay men during World War 2.
A
bisexual community activist started a petition asking the Unicode Consortium to
add an emoji representing the Bisexual flag
Most social media platforms allow users to use the rainbow
flag or a Trans flag emoji, but none of the platforms has yet introduced a pink,
purple/lavender, and blue bi flag emoji.
Last year, software engineer and bisexual community advocate,
Tanner Marino pleaded Unicode Consortium for a bisexual flag emoji, stating
that it would be “general enough to express both community affiliation and
sexual orientation.” But the said organization rejected her proposal, as they
speculated whether this new emoji would be used frequently or whether it would
be compatible across various platforms.
Following the rejection of Marion’s bi flag emoji proposal, Marino
wrote and created a Change.org petition for the bisexual flag emoji that has
received over 10,000 signatures. And the numbers are still growing.
It remains to be seen whether this petition convinces
Unicode Consortium for the approval of small bisexual flag emoji or gets
rejected once again.
Do you want to sign this petition? If yes, then you can
access it here!
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