why does a rainbow symbolize gays?

Answer 1

Don't know, the only "rainbow" things I buy are the rainbow chain Mardi Gras beads I like to give out every year for Mardi Gras.

Answer 2

The use of rainbow flags has a long tradition; they are displayed in many cultures around the world as a sign of diversity and inclusiveness, of hope and of yearning. This denotation goes back to the rainbow as a symbol of biblical promise when God gave the sign to Noah that there would never be a flood like the one that happened then ever again. The use of all the colours of the rainbow symbolizes all flags of gay people.Already in the German Peasants' War of the 16th century, the rainbow flag together with the peasants' boot ("Bundschuh") was used as the sign of a new era, of hope and of social change.

The reformer Thomas Müntzer connected socially revolutionary claims with his preaching of the gospel. He is often portrayed with a rainbow flag in his hand. The Thomas Müntzer statue in the German town of Stolberg also shows him holding a rainbow flag in his hand.

There are several, unrelated rainbow flags in use today, with the flag of the Rainbow family being an obvious example. The most widely known is perhaps the flag representing gay pride. The peace flag is especially popular in Italy and the cooperative flag symbolizes international cooperation. There are also other, less well known rainbow flags as well as other flags of a similar design but different purpose (such as the European flag "barcode" style).

Answer 3

My straight friends said that they want the rainbow back. I said no way, its ours. They said they would trade us Cher, since technically she is straight. I said, the new gay kids don't even know who Cher is, tragically. Then they offered to throw in David Hasselhoff. I said gay men might go for it, but the gay ladies don't care about Hasselhoff. Then the threw in NFL football, Bush beer and pizza huts all notoriously straight symbols. I said, you keep your NFL, your Americanized chain pizza, your cheap beer! So, just so you know, we get to keep the rainbow.

Answer 4

You know what? I think that's sad. Rainbows are beautiful and inspirational, not one bit sexual. I love rainbows so much but would get teased if I use those too much in artwork....

It's supposed to symbolize diversity when done in the "gay" colors.

Answer 5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag

check it out

hot pink - sexuality
red - life
orange - healing
yellow - sunlight
green - nature
turquoise - magic
blue - serenity
violet - spirit

those are the original colours then they took out hot pink and then turquoise go to the link and you can read it all

Answer 6

Because they are full of emotions and their true selves unlike Hetros

Answer 7

The many colorful parts of our community.

Answer 8

What's more flamboyant than a rainbow. I also think a unicorn might be a good symbol for them.

Answer 9

The Rainbow Flag
The Alyson Almanac: A Treasury of Information for the Gay and Lesbian Community describes Rainbow Flag as follows:
In 1978, Gilbert Baker of San Francisco designed and made a flag with six stripes representing the six colors of the rainbow as a symbol of gay and lesbian community pride. Slowly the flag took hold, offering a colorful and optimistic alternative to the more common pink triangle symbol. Today it is recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers, and is flown in lesbian and gay pride marches worldwide. In 1989, the rainbow flag received nationwide attention after John Stout successfully sued his landlords in West Hollywood, when they prohibited him from displaying the flag from his apartment balcony. Meanwhile, Baker is still in San Francisco, and still making more flags.

The Rainbow Flag by Steven W. Anderson appeared in GAZE Magazine (Minneapolis), #191, on 28 May 1993, p. 25:

Color has long played an important role in our community's expression of pride. In Victorian England, for example, the color green was associated with homosexuality. The color purple (or, more accurately, lavender) became popularized as a symbol for pride in the late 1960s - a frequent post-Stonewall catchword for the gay community was "Purple Power". And, of course, there's the pink triangle. Although it was first used in Nazi Germany to identify gay males in concentration camps, the pink triangle only received widespread use as a gay pop icon in the early 1980s. But the most colorful of our symbols is the Rainbow Flag, and its rainbow of colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple - represents the diversity of our community.

The first Rainbow Flag was designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, a San Francisco artist, who created the flag in response to a local activist's call for the need of a community symbol. (This was before the pink triangle was popularly used as a symbol of pride.) Using the five-striped "Flag of the Race" as his inspiration, Baker designed a flag with eight stripes: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. According to Baker, those colors represented, respectively: sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit. Baker dyed and sewed the material for the first flag himself - in the true spirit of Betsy Ross.

Baker soon approached San Francisco's Paramount Flag Company about mass producing and selling his "gay flag". Unfortunately, Baker had hand-dyed all the colors, and since the color "hot pink" was not commercially available, mass production of his eight-striped version became impossible. The flag was thus reduced to seven stripes.

In November 1978, San Francisco's gay community was stunned when the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk, was assassinated, Wishing to demonstrate the gay community's strength and solidarity in the aftermath of this tragedy, the 1979 Pride Parade Committee decided to use Baker's flag. The committee eliminated the indigo stripe so they could divide the colors evenly along the parade route - three colors on one side of the street and three on the other. Soon the six colors were incorporated into a six-striped version that became popularized and that, today, is recognized by the International Congress of Flag Makers.

In San Francisco, the Rainbow Flag is everywhere: it can be seen hanging from apartment windows throughout the city (most notably in the Castro district), local bars frequently display the flag, and Rainbow Flag banners are hung from lampposts on Market Street (San Francisco's main avenue) throughout Pride Month. Visiting the city, one can not help but feel a tremendous sense of pride at seeing this powerful symbol displayed so prominently.

Although the Rainbow Flag was initially used as a symbol of pride only in San Francisco, it has received increased visibility in recent years. Today, it is a frequent sight in a number of other cities as well - New York, West Hollywood, and Amsterdam, among them. Even in the Twin Cities, the flag seems to be gaining in popularity. Indeed, the Rainbow Flag reminds us that ours is a diverse community - composed of people with a variety of individual tastes of which we should all be proud.

Sources used for this article were found at Quatrefoil Library in St. Paul, and include: "Vexed by Rainbows", by Paul Zomcheck, in "Bay Area Reporter" (June 26, 1986); "Rainbow Flag" in "The Alyson Almanac" (1989); and "The Rainbow Flag", in "Parade 90: San Francisco Gay/Lesbian Freedom Day Parade and Celebration" (June 24, 1990)

Answer 10

That is kind of weird, I mean they took refracted light you can't do that people.