While LGBTQIA+ people may feel the rainbow was hijacked by the NHS, there is simultaneously a parallel international campaign to “reclaim the rainbow” by some Christians who vehemently believe the rainbow is a symbol of God and was stolen from them! In July 2021, in an Instagram story the artist, Gray Wielebinski, mused “Still thinking about how fucking bizarre it was when they tried to rebrand supporting the NHS/essential workers with the rainbow flag here last summer for no reason except so homophobic/transphobic people could put rainbows up without shame anymore.” Guillaume Vandame, “symbols” (2019-2021), Leadenhall Market, on display for the 10th edition of Sculpture in the City, London (photograph: Nick Turpin, courtesy the artist) The rainbow enamel pins that had been used by doctors and nurses to suggest alliance with the gay community were now just an inane form of self-promotion. This is clearly not the case, as we saw with Peter Blake’s iconic pop design. One friend suggested that the difference was that the rainbows supporting the NHS were handmade but the rainbows for the gay community were mechanical. However, in the midst of the pandemic, the rainbow suddenly became a symbol for the NHS in the United Kingdom and the association it once had with the gay community quickly dissipated. The rainbow also relates to gender identity, discrimination based on this identity, and the general stigma around homosexuality that regards it as something taboo and debased. It readily appears as a queer symbol even when it is not in its original format and functions as a stand-in for all these original core values, as well as the continued pursuit of human rights and equality, in terms of issues such as the decriminalization of homosexuality, the age of consent, and the right to get married and adopt children. In recent art history, the rainbow has appeared frequently in the contemporary art of Rob Pruitt, Jonathan Horowitz, Ugo Rondinone, Polly Apfelbaum, David McDiarmid, among other artists, as a symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community. Does that make the original Pride flag outdated? It seems like the Pride flag changes just as quickly as the latest smartphone.
BURNING GAY PRIDE FLAG PLUS
A new and somewhat controversial version appeared in Philadelphia in 2017 with black and brown stripes to represent people of color, then an updated Progress Pride flag by Daniel Quasar in 2018 included these stripes, plus the colors of the Trans Pride flag, and now there is a third version, made by Valentino Vecchietti in June 2021, riffing on Quasar’s version with the addition of the Intersex Pride flag designed by Morgan Carpenter in 2013. Some might say it has been overproduced and lost its meaning even within the gay community. An investigation uncovered the fact that students the pulled the flag from a trashcan and burned it behind a school building.Since that time, the Pride flag has become the basic model for numerous flags representing the spectrum of identifications via gender, sexuality, and fetish. However, the students involved in the flag burning will not be punished, because it wasn’t a public act, it didn’t appear to target any one person, and no one except those involved saw it happen. The statement further said the behavior is reprehensible and that appropriate action would be taken in response. The Huffington Post reports that Randall released a statement saying the school “has taken the situation very seriously” and “condemns harassment of any member” of its community. Albion is a private Michigan college that is associated with the Methodist Church and has about 1,800 full-time students. The burning followed the college’s Coming Out Week. The President of Albion College, Donna Randall, has condemned students involved in burning a gay pride rainbow flag.