The rainbow symbol

[ToTheLetter01]

I've noticed two instances recently where the rainbow symbol have been referred to as a symbol of the first lockdown.
The first was my DS son in the newsletter about pride week and it referred to it as a symbol of the lockdown and a symbol of hope in lockdown.
The second was on the programme This Morning. They had done a segment on rainbow decor being in now and how it's a symbol for the first lockdown.

Now I know the rainbow symbol has been around a long time and has been used for the LGBTQ community for many years. I find it infuriating that society are trying to take this away and remake it into a different thing because of this pandemic.

I know its not trademarked but why couldn't another symbol be used inside of a marginalised communities symbol. There are so many out there to choose from.

How do other people feel about it?

i think its more that the specific 6 coloured stripes is the pride flag, and there are organisations that don't understand that 6 colours is pride.

A rainbow, with the normal 7+ colours in, isn't pride.

THAT is where the problem is coming in.. commercial/organisation people not understanding that distinction and recycling their Pride logos because its 'just a rainbow' its not.

Pride = 6 colours in specific order

Rainbow - 7+ colours.

I think we need to reclaim the rainbow back from the LGBT community. My son went to school the other day with a rainbow patch on his jeans. He said other kids kept asking him if he was gay. He doesn't even know what gay means. He's 8 and autistic and just likes rainbows.

@Excilente in the case of the NHS (going back to the OP's original complaint), I just did a Google search and there seems to be a clear differentiation between the image used to support the NHS (7 colours) and the Rainbow badges (6 colours) NHS staff wear at work to show support to the LGBTQI+ community so it doesn't seem to be the NHS themselves repurposing the Pride flag.

Which organisations are repurposing the Pride flag?

It's been a symbol of hope since Noah. No-one owns it.

@Excilente

i think its more that the specific 6 coloured stripes is the pride flag, and there are organisations that don't understand that 6 colours is pride.

A rainbow, with the normal 7+ colours in, isn't pride.

THAT is where the problem is coming in.. commercial/organisation people not understanding that distinction and recycling their Pride logos because its 'just a rainbow' its not.

Pride = 6 colours in specific order

Rainbow - 7+ colours.

Say what, now?

The choice of 6 or 7 colours to portray a rainbow is arbitrary. The number of colours potentially visible in refracted light is many more than that. The number of colours actually visible in any given rainbow to any given observer varies, according to various factors. But they are always in the same order (though they can be reversed by double refraction).

The Pride rainbow is simply one of the common ways of portraying the rainbow. The order of colours isn't specific to Pride or anyone else - with the possible exception of God

You are aware that the LGBT Community didn't invent the rainbow aren't you?

Should Eva Cassidy be decried for cultural appropriation (but not Judy Garland, obvs).

I think the new version of the pride flag displays surprisingly honest symbolism.

You have the old rainbow flag, with all the bright vibrant colours happily existing side by side. Then, from the sinister side a spear head invades and starts to spread across and smother them. I love how the white triangle symbolises the core of rich white males behind the new movement, hiding behind the wishy washy pink and blue trans, who in turn are portrayed pushing the black and brown lines/people in front of them, to act as human shields and cannon fodder on the front lines.

It's brilliant. I couldn't have come up with such a perfect rendering of the current situation if I'd spent a year thinking about it.

That is a terrific analysis and use of sinister here is outstanding.

Love the analysis Stealth!

I agree - that analysis is brilliant.

I feel about the rainbow flag like I feel about the swastika...and I used to go to Pride in the days when it was an unusual thing to do.

Stealth your analysis of the flag is spot on.

@Stealhsquirrelnutkin

I think the new version of the pride flag displays surprisingly honest symbolism.

You have the old rainbow flag, with all the bright vibrant colours happily existing side by side. Then, from the sinister side a spear head invades and starts to spread across and smother them. I love how the white triangle symbolises the core of rich white males behind the new movement, hiding behind the wishy washy pink and blue trans, who in turn are portrayed pushing the black and brown lines/people in front of them, to act as human shields and cannon fodder on the front lines.

It's brilliant. I couldn't have come up with such a perfect rendering of the current situation if I'd spent a year thinking about it.

OK, you win MN today!

I've thought of another time the rainbow is commonly used. When pets die, people say they have gone over rainbow bridge. There are poems, keyrings, ornaments, jewellery etc all with rainbows on to comfort people who's pets have died.

@TedImgoingmad

I used to love rainbows. The thrill of seeing one in a grey sky, or through a rainbow catcher. Learning about Newton's prism experiment at school and recreating it. Just magic.

For several years now, I have shuddered whenever I've seen one. They don't symbolise hope, just oppression, totalitarian thinking and erasure to many women.

I'll be glad if the rainbow can be reclaimed for everyone. And if the alphabet soup people stopped allocating "colours" (black and white) to heterosexual people who haven't asked for them, that would be good too.

Completely agree. I avoid anything with a rainbow on like the plague these days. The whole alphabet soup, has taken all the joy away. The same as bees and 'bee kind'.

@knittingaddict

There are plenty of rainbows to go around. You're making an issue out of hot air.

No, it’s not hot air. It’s refraction/reflection of light in water droplets in the air. Hot air would be a heat burst at the end of a thunderstorm.

Stealhsquirrelnutkin
Very good. (Still looks like Bertie Bassetts beach towel though)

Thanks for the appreciation, but I have a nasty suspicion that I cribbed most of the analysis from someone else.

I have deplorable magpie tendencies, snapping up shiny things without registering where I found them, or remembering the name of the person who deserves the real credit. All the different information ends up getting woven together inside my head, and what comes out later will have bits cobbled together from all over the place.

Thinking about it now I'm pretty sure the spearhead invasion idea comes from watching that cartoon at the start of Dad's Army, that someone in another forum mentioned the white core leading from behind, and the sinister bit comes from looking stuff up in heraldry tomes.

I rarely remember the name of an author, or even the title of a book, just the general story, and whether I enjoyed it or not. The harsh reality of being expected to provide footnotes linking to sources in higher education was a terrible ordeal, completely unnatural, and one that I shook off with immense relief as soon as they were no longer required.

Fixed the flag Sapho

The rainbow symbol has been used for many things, I don’t feel it was pinched from LGBT, people have used it to describe their ‘rainbow babies’ (baby born after a miscarriage)? It has also been used by parent with children on the autistic spectrum because of the spectrum of colours? It’s been used for LGBT but mainly in the way of their flag which isn’t actually a rainbow? And it’s been used to represent the NHS throughout covid?

I don’t really see a issue, I love rainbows and what they represent. Why can’t it be used for many things?

@Lovemusic33 you've reminded me about the rainbow-colored infinity symbol which represents the diversity of the autism spectrum, which is beginning to be used instead of a linear spectrum.

[quote Waitwhat23]@Lovemusic33 you've reminded me about the rainbow-colored infinity symbol which represents the diversity of the autism spectrum, which is beginning to be used instead of a linear spectrum.[/quote]
I prefer the rainbow to the puzzle piece, rainbows are far nicer 😉.

Fantastic analysis of that flag. It needs to go on Twitter.

As someone above pointed out, there was no need to add the black and brown stripes as the rainbow colours were already inclusive of of all lesbian, gay and bi people.
They are simply being used as a human shield for the male activists to hide behind whilst ploughing through with their hostile takeover.

Yet another group's oppression to appropriate.