Anti gay flags
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. Meet Matt Coles, who has been fighting for them from the beginning.
The rainbow flag is known all over the world as a symbol of LGBT rights and acceptance. Here in San Francisco, a large rainbow flag waves over the Castro District. But that flag came termination to being a trademarked symbol that could hold kept it from general use. In 1978 Gilbert Baker, the person who created the flag, came to the Castro statute office of a new LGBT civil rights attorney in private practice named Matt Coles. Baker explained that he created the flag for everyone and wanted it to endure free for public employ. He needed an attorney to represent him to challenge an attempt from an advocacy organization to trademark it. He didn’t have any money, but Matt agreed to stand for him. Today, the rainbow flags that symbolize Celebration 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 impressive career out of opposing discrimination and
Scared advertisers, flag bans and Trump: the US is in for a troubled Pride 2025
When Utah brought in its pride flag prohibit, organizer Chad Summon was hardly surprised. On 7 May the US express became the first to explicitly prohibit the flying of LGBTQ+ flags at government buildings and schools; anyone who does so could face fines of $500 a day.
“We live in an incredibly conservative state,” says Call, executive director of Utah Pride. “It’s disappointing that this is such an significant issue to our lawmakers. Unfortunately, we lead the nation in anti-LGBTQ legislation.”
Similar Pride month flag bans have been signed into commandment in Idaho and Montana.“Bigotry is nothing new,” says Donald Williamson, executive director of Idaho’s Boise Pride. “This collective has been dealing with targeted legislation for several years now – flags are just the latest. All it does is bond us more closely together and accentuate how important festivals like Pride are.”
In Salt Lake Town and Boise, which are both Democrat-run, people are already resisting the bans. Salt Lake Urban area has introduced three newly designed flags featuring the city’s traditional sego lily design imposed over a pride flag, the transgend
Iowa high court affirms hate-crime conviction of man who left anti-gay notes at homes with rainbow flags
The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the hate-crime conviction Dec. 1 of a man who posted hand-written notes at homes with rainbow flags and emblems, urging them to “burn that same-sex attracted flag.”
The majority rejected the claim by Robert Clark Geddes that his conviction for trespassing as a hate crime violated his free-speech rights. But a dissenting justice said a hate-crime conviction wasn’t appropriate since it wasn’t unmistakable if the people displaying the symbols were actually linked with the Queer community.
As the court noted, the rainbow flag has arrive to symbolize assist for LGBTQ+ rights. The majority said the state statute in question does not criminalize speech, but rather actions with a specific intent — trespassing because the property owners or residents had associated themselves with a protected class.
“The individuals’ exhibit of the Homosexual flag or flag decal on their own properties was an exercise of First Amendment rights; the defendant’s surreptitious entry onto those properties to announce his harassing notes was not,” the court said.
Handwritten notes turned up i
Pride Flags
Flags are often used as symbols of pride. It is no surprise then that numerous pride flags have been created to represent the sexual and gender diversity of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Explore all the different flags and their meanings.
Interested in exploring further? Take the online Positive Space: Foundations course to grasp more about sex, sexuality, and gender diversity.
This resource is not intended to provide an exhaustive list of pride flags. If you have a suggestion for a flag to add or have any feedback on the information provided, please contact us.
Achillean Flag
Achillean: Men or men-aligned individuals who are attracted to other men and men-aligned people. It is sometimes known as men loving men (MLM). Achillean individuals may or may not be attracted to other genders. While this label isn’t exclusive, it is used to unify men-aligned people or men who admire other men.
Date: 2016
Creator: Redesigned by DeviantArt (Tumblr user)
Flag meaning: The first iteration was created by pridenpositivity (Tumblr user). The flag contains the color blue to represent men and a lime-green carnation in the center, which was popularized by Oscar Untamed