In its parade application, the Lower End contingent described its entry as a “diversity float” that would welcome people of all races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. “There are other ways to do things, even if they are not as public, not as volatile, and not as contentious.” “It just seemed the timing was right this year for a new change,” Linehan said, noting that Boston had a new mayor, Mahoney is chief marshal, and there was interest in marching from two local groups with gay members. Foster has lived in South Boston for seven years. Randy Foster (left), with his husband, Steve Martin, in South Boston. Of outside gay groups coming in and hoping to march, he said: “How in the world do you ever get compromise if the first statement out of your mouth is, ‘I'm different than you?’ ” “They know us as their neighbors first and as gay second,” said Foster, an Air Force veteran who served in Desert Storm and who has lived with his husband in South Boston for seven years. And they have been embraced by the Allied War Veterans Council, the parade’s longtime sponsor. Many of the people working on the float just happen to be gay. They are marching as South Boston residents who have coalesced around building a park in a corner of the neighborhood known as the Lower End.
It’s a great thing you’re doing.”įoster and his friends and neighbors are not marching Sunday as part of a gay organization. “On behalf of the Allied War Veterans, I’d like to present you with your acceptance,” Mahoney said, handing Foster a thick, white envelope. Mahoney wore a shamrock tie and flipped aviator-style sunglasses up on his forehead. Mahoney, the parade’s chief marshal, bounded into the chilly warehouse. The symbolism of the rainbow for gay pride is so important that even as the movement evolves, the flag remains.Last weekend as work had just begun on the flatbed, Brian R. Perhaps that is also the reason why Gilbert chose the rainbow as a symbol of gay pride.īoth in the 1970s and now, the rainbow became an important symbol signifying solidarity regardless of the colour, ethnicity, or sex. Amid the recent lockdown, people have put up a painting of the rainbow all across Europe as a sign of hope that better days are to come. In Italy, the flag is used as a symbol of peace. The organisation first adapted the rainbow flag in 1925 to signify diversity yet solidarity among co-operatives worldwide. The International Co-operative Organisation also uses the rainbow as a symbol of solidarity, social justice, and universal peace. In 2001, a black stripe was added to the flag to create awareness for Aids. Some people add brown and black stripes for racial inclusivity. People also use it to express solidarity with the LGBTQ community. No longer is the rainbow flag, just a symbol of gay pride. It accurately represented their diversity in terms of age, race, gender, and was yet a symbol of solidarity and one of hope as it has been throughout history. The flag took colours meant to depict them as outcasts and turned them into a representation of their struggles.īaker, recalls watching people’s faces light up as they saw it, and it needed no explanations. The rainbow flag brings all these colours together and merges them into one unified symbol representing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer as one solidified community. The colour yellow served a similar purple in Australia and purple in the United States. During the Holocaust, Nazis forced gay men to wear pink triangles as a symbol of defiance to their sex. The colour green is also associated with Oscar Wilde, a homosexual poet in the Victorian era who was trialled for his sexual orientation. Closeted gay people often used bright colours as a signal to others about their sexuality. But then looking at the history of gay pride revolution, it is not a surprise that Mr Baker chose a bright meteorological phenomenon. It’s interesting to note that of all the symbols, Baker chose the rainbow.