Anti gay symbol
Meet the Dude Who Kept the Rainbow Flag Free
Matt Coles
(Originally posted on the ACLU of Northern California blog.)
The fight for LGBT equality in the Bay Area has faced plenty of challenges. See Matt Coles, who has been fighting for them from the beginning.
The rainbow flag is famous all over the world as a symbol of LGBT rights and acceptance. Here in San Francisco, a massive rainbow flag waves over the Castro District. But that flag came adjacent to being a trademarked symbol that could have kept it from widespread use. In 1978 Gilbert Baker, the person who created the flag, came to the Castro law office of a young LGBT civil rights attorney in private exercise named Matt Coles. Baker explained that he created the flag for everyone and wanted it to remain free for public apply. He needed an attorney to symbolize him to oppose an attempt from an advocacy group to trademark it. He didn’t possess any money, but Matt agreed to represent him. Today, the rainbow flags that symbolize Event Month are a symbol for the people.
The flag case wasn’t Matt’s first – or last – tango in the LGBT rights community. Now our Deputy National Legal Director, Matt has built an imp
The Significance of the Pink Triangle
A Dim History
At the twist of the 20th century, despite the German Criminal Code banning homosexuality, Germany had a thriving LGBTQ community. In Berlin alone, there were over one hundred queer bars, cafes, clubs, and organizations. Queer publications were plentiful and LGBTQ activists fought for a more equitable society.
However, as the Nazis rose to power, hostility towards LGBTQ people – especially queer men – increased, as they considered homosexuals to be a detriment to their goals of an ‘Aryan’ race. While lesbians were also persecuted, gay men were targeted in greater numbers as men held more positions of power at the time.
Throughout the Holocaust, it’s estimated that upwards of 15,000 gay men were sent to concentration camps. Inside the camps, they were forced to wear a pink inverted triangle on their uniforms – clearly marking them as LGBTQ. The symbol indicated to everyone in the prison that the wearer was “bottom tier” – and often the wearers would receive harsher treatment. Sadly, 60% of gay men sent to concentration camps were killed.
Reclamation
Now, the pink triangle has been reclaimed
EIU Center For Gender and Sexual Diversity
Symbols within the GSD Community
Rainbow Flag
The rainbow flag has turn into the easily-recognized colors of self-acceptance for the gay community. The rainbow plays a part in many myths and stories associated to gender and sexuality issues in Greek, Aboriginal, African, and other cultures. Use of the rainbow flag by the queer community began in 1978 when it first appeared in the San Francisco Gay and Woman loving woman Freedom Day Parade. Borrowing symbolism from the hippie movement and black civil rights groups, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker crafted the rainbow flag in response to a need for a symbol that could be used year after year. The flag has six stripes, each shade representing a component of the community: red for life, orange for healing, yellow for daystar, green for nature, royal sky for harmony, and violet for spirit.
The rainbow flag has inspired a wide variety of connected symbols and accessories, such as freedom rings. There are plenty of variations of the flag, including versions with superimposed lambdas, pink triangles, or other symbols. Some recent flags have added a brown and black stripe as a reminder of how important the intersectio
President Trump 're-Truthed' a story to his Truth Social platform which included a graphic of the Pink Triangle, a symbol used to target gay men in Nazi Germany.
The story he was reposting was an opinion piece by The Washington Times correspondent Jeremy Hunt praising the Trump Administration and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for banning transgender troops from the military.
LGBTQ+ publications and many people on X (formerly Twitter) own expressed concern over the President reposting an image of the infamous symbol.
The White House and The Washington Times have been contacted via email for comment.
Why It Matters
This marks the third time someone in or close to the Trump administration has been accused of showing symbolism that can be tied to the Nazis. Trump advisors Elon Musk and Steve Bannon own both done 'Roman Salutes' at the inauguration and at CPAC. Now, the President has shared the thumbnail for a piece which included an image of the Pink Triangle, a symbol directly tied to concentration camps.
What is a Pink Triangle
The downward Pink Triangle was the gay equivalent of the yellow star for Jewish people under the Nazis.
It was used to tag out gay