Rainbow Flag
LGBTQI is an abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, but there are
gender identities and sexual orientations that letters and words cannot yet fully describe.
The Rainbow Flag
In 1978 the artist Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man and a drag queen, designed the first
Rainbow Flag to create a symbol of pride for the gay community.
Baker sew the rainbow as a natural flag from the sky,so he adopted eight colors for the stripes, each colour with its own meaning:
hot pink for sex
red for life
orange for healing
yellow for sunlight
green for nature
turqoise for art
indigo for harmony
violet for spirit
The first version of the Rainbow Flag was flown on June 25,1978, for the San Francisco
Gay Freedom Day Parade. However, because of production issues, the pink and turquoise stripes were removed and indigo was replaced by basic blue.
Today the six striped flag is the most common variant with the red stripe on the top,
as in natural rainbow. There are derivations of the rainbow flag that reflect the immense diversity and unity of LGBTQI Community.
Why Rainbow?
People have speculated that Baker was inspired by Judy Garland song” Over the Rainbow” (Garland being among the first gay icons), but he said that was inspired more about the Rolling Stones and their song “She’s a Rainbow”.
May this bridge between sky and earth help human beings to share love in the world.
Flashback to 2015. MoMA (Museum of Modern Art ) in New York has acquired the iconic Rainbow Flag into its design collection!
LGBTQI World and Arts
Sappho, born on the Island of Lesbos probably around 630 B.C.E., called by Plato “The Tenth Muse” was a poet of ancient Greece.
Many of her poems were composed in her Academy of Unmarried Women where homosexuality was accepted.
She turned the style of poetry from the epic form to more personal narratives.
Her most common subject was love and the strong emotions that generates.
Most of Sappho’s writings were destroyed probably by the church, so the legend that surround her life have made Sappho a mysterious figure, perhaps better known for introducing the term “lesbian” and “sapphic” into modern vocabulary.
Other times, other places
The Harlem Renaissance, a literary and cultural flowering centred in New York City’s Harlem neighbourhood (from the early 1920s through the mid 1930s) marked a turning point in African American culture.
Black queer artists and intellectuals were part of the foundation of modern black LGBTQI art.
Many of the stars of the 1920s “classic blues” era, including Gertrude “Ma” Rainey,
Bessie Smith and Alberta Hunter were involved in same-sex relationships at various points in their lives.
https://youtu.be/s5CCM2RDC84?si=rcAP5MW23wSNwAGD
Some LGBTQI artists spreading the message of Equality and Positivity.
Elton John, British singer, pianist, and composer raised millions for his AIDS Charity.
On 21 December 2005 (the day the Civil Partnership Act came into force) John and his long-term partner were among the first couples to form a civil partnership in U.K.
Lady Gaga is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Much of her success is due to her gay fans. She said: “They’ll always stand by me, and I’ll always stand by them”.
https://youtu.be/eTndu2rjnL0?si=1k2AtIeZ05-KEwWC
Freddie Mercury was a British singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist and pianist of the band “QUEEN” and one of the greatest singer in the history of rock music.
” I’ve taken my bows, my curtain calls, you’ve brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it, and I thank you all”. from ” We are the Champions”
Rudolf Nureyev was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer, the greatest of his generation. He had a turbulent personal life and was described as bisexual or homosexual.
https://youtu.be/45UoZ7uOALA?si=NEDkVlcDwbjPdlya
Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. For his”close” friendship with Lord Alfred Douglas he was accused of being a “sodomite”, arrested, found guilty and sentenced to two years at hard labour. In jail he wrote a long letter to Douglas “De Profundis”.
….and classical music?
I chose to talk about P.I.Tchaikovsky, a great Russian composer of the Romantic period.
He wrote a lot of masterpieces but was also the greatest composer of music for ballets.
“Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker”, “The Sleeping Beauty”…
His last work, the Sixth Symphony, known as the “Pathétique”, was dedicated to his nephewwith whom he was passionately in love and who killed himself.
The composer died a few days after: we’ll never know if for cholera or drinking infected water to finish his life.
https://youtu.be/tM8_NWn1cMA?si=Xb0uxbJ5flahk8jX
Conclusion
LGBTQI people formed many musical groups, especially choruses.
Many greetings to all with Cromatica Chorus in Piazza di Spagna, in Rome
” We are the world”!