Graphic Design Post #5

Graphic Design 
Post #5

History of LGBT Graphics

By Sammy McCracken

Symbols, logos and other graphics are extremely influential factors in today’s society. When you think of two golden arches, what comes to your mind? Or what do you think of when you see a curved check mark symbol on a pair of shoes? Symbols are all around us and many social movements, such as the LGBT, used different iconic graphics to represent their cause. For this post, I will be exploring some of the history behind the LGBT’s most iconic graphic arts and I will also be exploring the importance of these graphics and their influence on today’s society.

Lambda Symbol

            I will begin by discussing the Greek letter, lambda. This symbol is new to me with respects to representing the LGBT, but it has been around since 1970 when the Gay Activists Alliance of New York deemed it their symbol ("Lambda: GLBT Community Services"). Back in this time in history, the GAA was part of the Gay Liberation Front, but decided to break away. The GLF was interested in joining with black and women social movement groups in order to try and create more equality. The GAA however, was more interested in gaining equality for gays and lesbians. There is no official reason why this symbol was chosen, but there are many ideas as to why it was chosen and why it is still around today. Some of these reasons include, the Greek letter “L” stands for liberation, many believe lambda stands for unity, and lambda could be easily mistaken for a Greek community symbol on college campuses, so LGBT members could display it without any fear of being called out. In December 1974, the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland declared the lambda symbol the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights ("Lambda: GLBT Community Services").

            One of the most popular LGBT symbols is the rainbow flag. This symbol has had many changes and comes in many forms, but its universal meaning is LGBT rights. But what exactly is the meaning behind a rainbow? My biblical background tells me to look up the verse from Genesis 9, where God is speaking to Noah:

Original Rainbow Flag

“This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” ("Lambda: GLBT Community Services").

This to me shows that a rainbow, due to its overpowering 

Most Common Rainbow Flag

beauty, means hope and symbolizes a new beginning, since God was about to destroy the entire Earth in a flood to start over. The rainbow of the LGBT flag means something very similar, hope for a new future with equality for all people. The flag to the left is the most used version of the LGBT flag and each color has a specific meaning. The artist responsible for the creation of this flag is Gilbert Baker. He came up with the idea in 1978 ("Lambda: GLBT Community Services"). He described his meaning behind the colors of the original flag: pink is for sexuality, red is for life, orange is for healing, yellow is for the sun, green is for nature, blue is for art, indigo is for harmony and violet is for spirit. Pink was removed from the flag when Baker went to get them mass-produced for the LGBT movement. Unfortunately, pink was not a readily available color, which is why most flags seen today lack pink. 

The Pink Triangle

            Another very prominent symbol for the LGBT equal rights movement is the pink triangle. This simple graphic was created during World War II in Nazi Germany. The Nazi’s used this symbol to separate homosexuals from the rest of the people in concentration camps. People display this symbol in memory of those lost during the war. Erik Jensen in his article, “The Pink Triangle and Political Consciousness: Gays, Lesbians, and the Memory of Nazi Persecution”, states, “The readers attributed their political consciousness as gay women, at least in part, to a particular collective memory of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals” (Jensen 320). This symbol did not become popular until the 1970s when the gay liberation movements began. Many of the gay and lesbians victims from the war went into hiding. People in Germany were still very much against gays and lesbians and did not welcome them in public. Most people hadn’t even heard of the gay persecution because the people did not speak of it. “Elmar Drost, a West German gay activist, recalled only one time prior to the 1970s when an older acquaintance of his referred obliquely to the Nazi persecution; otherwise, as Drost flatly stated, "I never heard of it” (Jensen 322). In 1975, a LGBT activist group encouraged gays and lesbians to wear the pink triangle proudly to make people realize that discrimination was still taking place. It declared at its conclusion, "Show what happened to gays under fascism! Discrimination is still going on! Wear the pink triangle” (Jansen 327). The pink triangle is probably the most widely known LGBT symbol today and it can be seen almost everywhere.

           There are many other great graphics from the LGBT movement, but the lambda symbol, the rainbow flag and the pink triangle are some of the most popular graphics today and have the deepest histories.

Works Cited

Jensen, Erik. "The Pink Triangle and Political Consciousness: Gays, Lesbians, and the 

                Memory of Nazi Persecution." Journal of the History of Sexuality. 11. (2002): 319-349. 

                Web. 25 Apr. 2012.  

                <http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.emich.edu/stable/pdfplus/3704560.pdf>.

"Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements." Lambda: GLBT 
                 Community Servies. , 26 Dec, 2004. Web. 15 Apr 2012. 
                 <http://www.lambda.org/symbols.htm>.