Pride 2023: Facts & Flags

I miss my flag posts, and I never gave you your facts post...so why not do both?! Facts & Flags (alongside my second ever book rainbow--taken last year)

Facts:

• Every color of the rainbow flag means something.
• In 1967, the Oscar Wilde memorial bookshop opened in New York City. It was the first gay bookshop in the world.
• In 1976, a kiss-in was hosted in Toronto after two men were arrested for kissing at the corner of Bloor and Yonge streets. Protesters stood on the same corner and kissed in front of police officers.
• In May 1959, a group of LGBTQ individuals who were fed up with being mistreated by the police fought back at Cooper Do-Nuts in Los Angeles. According to Out, the group, which was led by several transgender women, "pelted officers with donuts, coffee, and paper plates until they were forced to retreat and return with larger numbers." It is believed to be the first documented LGBTQ uprising in U.S. history.
• It is believed that the term 'lesbian' comes from the Greek island Lesbos. Sappho, a Greek poetess known for her poetry about the beauty of other women, and her love for them, was from the island.
• Many of the early LGBTQ+ rights marches included "liberation" or "freedom" in their names, and for good reason - plenty of queer people wanted to be liberated from the shackles of heteronormative society, to feel that they could simply be themselves without having to answer to anyone. By the time the 1980s came around, the word "liberation" wasn't being used quite as much, with many marches instead going with "Pride". Part of that was down to elements of conservatism within the movement - notably, some marches were reluctant to adopt the change.
• Marsha P. Johnson is often credited with throwing the first punch at the Stonewall Inn (though there are many prominent figures who are also rumored to have done so). She was a Black trans woman celebrating her 25th birthday at the time of the riots and a tour de force in the gay community. She died in 1992 at just 46 years old after police found her body in the Hudson River - her death was initially ruled a suicide, despite friends and loved ones insisting that could not be the case.
• Shania Twain was inspired to write "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" after watching a drag performance.
• Stormé DeLarverie was a gay rights activist and drag performer who was also at Stonewall when it was raided that night. Her friend, Lisa Cannistraci, told the New York Times upon her death in 2014, "Nobody knows who threw the first punch, but it's rumored that she did, and she said she did. She told me she did."
• Sylvia Rivera was an activist and self-professed drag queen who also played a part in the Stonewall Riots. She fought for transgender rights alongside Marsha P. Johnson, creating S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) to help house homeless LGBTQ youth. She advocated for transgender rights until her death in 2002.
• The first Pride flag was designed by gay artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. It originally had eight stripes with each color symbolizing a different concept. The flag first flew on Gay Pride Day in San Francisco on June 25, 1978.
• The Society for Human Rights is the oldest documented gay rights organization in the U.S. It's based in Chicago and was founded by Henry Gerber in 1924. While stationed in Germany on Army duty, Gerber was met with an open LGBT community. His hope was to replicate this open, mainstream LGBT community in the U.S. It was an uphill battle as he faced threats and was arrested, but he never stopped advocating for the LGBT community. In 2015, the Henry Gerber House was declared a National Historic Landmark.
• The Stonewall Uprising took place early morning on June 28, 1969 when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar known as a safe place for LGBTQIA+ individuals. The raid sparked riots, six days of protests, and clashes with police. Although the uprising was not the start of the LGBTQIA+ movement, it was seen as a critical moment and spark in the movement. The Stonewall Inn is still open today in New York City and is a national monument!
• The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states on June 26, 2015. This was a monumental moment for the LGBTQIA+ community. The Court's ruling means that states can no longer deny same-sex marriages and must recognize their unions. Love wins!

*Facts from: various internet sources (mostly reliable and inclusive ones, but a few were popular mega-media sites)

Flags:

• Agender Pride: black (absence of gender), gray (semi-genderless), white (absence of gender), green (non-binary individuals), white (absence of gender), gray (semi-genderless), black (absence of gender)
• Aromantic Pride: dark green (aromanticism), light green (aromantic spectrum), white (platonic and aesthetic attraction), gray (gray-romantic and demi-romantic) , black (sexuality spectrum)
• Asexual Pride: black (asexual), gray (demisexual), white (allies), purple (community)
• Bisexual Pride: pink (same sex attraction), purple (breadth of gender spectrum), blue (other sex attraction)
• Demisexual Pride: white (sexuality), purple (community), gray (gray asexuality/demisexuality), black triangle (asexuality)
• Gay Men Pride: traditional male colors spanning a spectrum to cover multiple versions of different traditional male identities and attractions (eg masc to twink)
• Gender Fluid Pride: pink (femininity), white (lack of gender), purple (mix of male/female & queer identity), black (third/other/all genders), indigo (masculinity)
• Gender Queer Pride: purple (mix of male/female & queer identity), white (gender neutral identity), green (third/other/all genders)
• Graysexual Pride: purple (asexuality), gray (graysexuality), white (allosexuality), gray (graysexuality), purple (asexuality)
• Intersexual Pride: yellow and purple (non-binary colors/gender-neutral colors--representing wholeness/rightness/completeness)
• Lesbian Pride: traditional female colors spanning a spectrum to cover multiple version of different traditional female identities and attractions (eg femme to butch)
• Non-Binary Pride: yellow (without/outside gender binary), white (many/all genders), purple (mix of female/male & queer identity), black (without gender)
• Omnisexual Pride: light pink (variations of attraction to femme), dark pink (variations of attraction to femme), black (third/other/all genders), dark blue (variations of attraction to masc), light blue (variations of attraction to masc)
• Pansexual Pride: pink (attraction to femme), yellow (attraction to nonbinary), blue (attraction to masc)
• Polysexual Pride: pink (attraction to femme), green (attraction outside f/m binary), blue (attraction to masc)
• Queer Pride (Philadelphia meets Gilbert Baker)...hot pink (sex), red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight), green (nature), turquoise (magic/art), indigo (serenity/harmony), violet (spirit), brown (inclusivity), black (diversity)
• Questioning Pride: pastel rainbow and question mark represents general queer society and questioning ones space inside of it regardless of time, place, age, etc
• Transexual Pride: blue (traditional male color), pink (traditional female color), white (transitional, neutral color, intersex), pink (traditional female color), blue (traditional male color)

Just like with my resources page, please feel free to drop anything (or you want to add your own fact) I missed below in the comments!

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