As such, racism (much like the Heathers musical) is just something the gays want to sweep under the pride floats. One of the primary lessons from the Book of White Nonsense is this: Being called a racist is more hurtful and offensive than experiencing it. They don’t want to be seen as complicit in the systemic oppression of people of color and feel they can’t be racist because their sexual minority status absolves them of criticism. Ultimately, it seems the reason that some people (most viscerally white, cisgender men) in the LGBTQ community immediately react this way is that it makes them uncomfortable.
Repeat after me: The rainbow flag is not more important than the liberation of people of color from racism, even within the LGBTQ community. In fact, most don't even know the name of the person who designed the flag, or only recently learned his name when Gilbert Baker died this year - and many didn't even know that he died at all. Just a couple of weeks ago, many were willing to accept variations of the flag with the Babadook - a fictional character who many were calling a gay icon - but can't accept the inclusion of black and brown people. Shame on those telling the city of Philadelphia it's not allowed to stand in solidarity with its LGBTQ POC in their hour of need. The lack of outrage about any of the aforementioned changes from within the LGBT community makes the radical reaction to one city altering the flag to stand with its black and brown LGBTQ citizens a very clear exposure of the racist underbelly of our community. flag by replacing the traditional red and white stripes with the colors of the rainbow. We, as LGBTQ people, have even changed the U.S. A flag with an added black stripe represents support for victory over AIDS. South Africa flies its own version: a combination of the national flag and the original rainbow flag. Houston debuted a Family Pride flag in 2007 in celebration of same-sex couples raising children. Prides worldwide have flown variations of the rainbow flag for decades, but it seems like bigots are only mad at this one because it was changed to support people of color. The reaction to these new stripes are a reminder of how white supremacy permeates many spaces, even those of a vastly marginalized group like the LGBTQ community. I want to decide who is represented and supported in our community. What we hear: I’ve never been excluded from a venue or a party based on my race. What they say: This is going to create more divisiveness in our community.
But others, including Daniel Quasar, said that the Progress Pride flag wasn't intended to replace the original, and argued that it was important to represent marginalised communities.What they say: This isn’t going to change anything. Some people within LGBTQ+ communities said that Gilbert Baker's Pride flag didn't need to be changed, arguing that it was originally designed to be representative of everyone. "The arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made." explained Daniel Quasar. It included black, brown, pink, pale blue and white stripes, to represent marginalised people of colour in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the trans community, and those living with HIV/AIDS. One year later, an artist called Daniel Quasar released a redesign of the Pride flag, called the Progress Pride flag, which was widely shared on social media. In 2017, Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs added black and brown stripes to the Pride flag to recognise people of colour. Over the years the original rainbow flag has been redesigned, with some within LGBTQ+ movements arguing it needed to better represent and reflect more communities.