by Emiliann Lorenzen

Flags do not replace community building and activism.

The Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement has morphed into an empty symbol. Even referring to what is now known as the LGBTQ+ Movement as the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement sounds archaic in its directness and its lack of an acronym. One must be “in the know” to understand an acronym, while using plain language to describe a movement invites clear conversations, goals, and actions.

When Pride month launched on June 1^st, 2021, I was already over it. Social media blew up with rainbows, corporate pandering, and “allies”spreading memes that sought to educate the public on the LGBTQ+ plight. These self-proclaimed allies and corporations were the loudest and most obnoxious bunch filling my screen as I scrolled on by, trying to keep my cool. Finally, I lost it. I take part in a few lesbian Facebook groups in the Sacramento, CA area. A post was circulating throughout those groups, asking women to sign a petition allowing a rainbow Pride flag to be flown at City Hall in Roseville, CA. The empty symbolism masquerading as a fight for human rights was in my backyard.

Roseville is a suburb of Sacramento. I grew up in the suburbs of Sacramento, and I lived in Roseville as a teenager. Roseville is a bit of a mixed bag politically. There are lots of liberals, but also lots of conservatives. I would estimate that most residents are moderates. Generally speaking, Roseville is known as being a conservative community. It is highly commercialized, but it is an old city with strong community roots. When I saw this Facebook post, my first reaction was, “Why?” I truly did not understand the point of wanting the City of Roseville to fly a rainbow flag, so I investigated. Roseville had already declared June “Pride Month” officially even though the federal government had already done so. Nonetheless, the flag people were very pleased, but they wanted more action. Okay, action.

You mean asking the city for money to fund LGBTQ+ support groups and services? No.

Oh, so you mean asking the city to reverse homophobic laws or policies? No.

Hmm, okay. There must have been some injustice that you are fighting, like an attack on the community or something, right? Not really.

Well, then, what is it? WE WANT THE CITY TO FLY A PRIDE FLAG DURING PRIDE MONTH!! (Cue cheering and applause)

To be fair, these people think that flying a flag will help injustice because they believe it will show all the bigots that Roseville won’t put up with their shit. Yeah, you tell ‘em. Below and to the right is a screenshot of me asking one of the organizers why they felt having a Pride flag flown at City Hall would be useful:

I am not sure what change this person would like to see, but rainbow flags do not make me feel safe or accepted, especially not as a lesbian. If you have ever been to the rainbow-laden Castro District in San Francisco, you would know that it is a gay man’s paradise with little room for lesbians. I do feel for these teenagers who wish to feel safer and more accepted, but a colored piece of cloth waving in the sky is not going to do that. Creating their own sense of safety and acceptance within themselves and within their own community of like-minded people will create the security and ease they desire.

The Roseville City Council posts their meetings on their website, which gave me the opportunity to hear what these people really think. I was not surprised by the teenagers who shared their comments because this is an adolescent form of activism. The adults getting heated over needing a Pride flag at City Hall were a bit more surprising. The teenagers were the only ones who mentioned wanting to receive more funding for, according to them, the only LGBTQ+ support group for teens in Roseville, which is actually in Loomis, but whatever. If it is true that this is the only support group near Roseville, then that is a problem. Perhaps these teens or these adults spending their Wednesday evening arguing over a flag because they want to feel included should start their own support group. In fact, I went to a Lesbian Pride Dance that was set up through MeetUp, and it was a fantastic event. It is possible to create a sense of community and safety without pestering people into pandering. 

The usual “statistics” without any sources were thrown around, like the suicide rate of LGBTQ+ teens. “If a flag is not flown at City Hall, then these teens will kill themselves” was the argument of some irresponsible and emotionally manipulative adults. I do not doubt that kids, teens, and adults face some form of bullying and discrimination for their sexuality or gender identity in Roseville. I also do not doubt that some of these people are driven to suicide ideation or even the act itself. I do doubt that a flag would make a difference. In reality, the flag is everywhere in June. Even if you do not go anywhere, if you have social media or even log onto the internet, it is there. Google, YouTube, Twitter, Netflix, etc. will make sure you know it is Pride with their modified logos and their lists of LGBTQ+ friendly content. How much more validation do they need?

The issue with symbols is that they are subject to interpretation; they are multivocal, not univocal. For example, the American flag to some represents the unity of the country, freedom, and patriotism. While to others it represents conformity, ignorance, and capitalism. My own interpretation of the American flag shifts depending on the context. Fourth of July is near, so neighbors are displaying more flags. I drove through a neighborhood in Roseville near my old high school recently, and I felt a surge of comfort and patriotism to see the red, white, and blue décor on the small, quaint houses. In contrast, when I saw a large American flag erected in the bed of a truck roaring down the highway, I frowned and figured that the driver was a Trump supporter. I associated the American flag with the “Trump Trains,” which consisted of long lines of vehicles decked out in Trump support and other Republican messages, accompanied by large Old Glories, and crowded the road. My shift in association and emotion could not have been more opposite.

The rainbow Pride flag has completely lost any sense of univocality. In 1978 Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag, and it was flown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade that year with Harvey Milk, the first elected openly gay man in the USA, riding beneath it. In Professional Judy’s article, “The rainbow flag, previously a symbol of hope of the lesbian and gay civil rights movement, died in 2020 at the age of 42”, “The flag was not seeking to elevate any particular part of our community, what it was seeking to do was to say that same sex attracted are all equal in the oppression that we face, that we have the same struggle to be respected and protected as same sex attracted, and that we had the same need to push back on the expectations that heterosexual society places on us.” The rainbow flag represented a clear message that homosexuals sought civil rights until the movement became one that literally focused on every identity under the rainbow, regardless of sexuality. The rainbow flag was univocal at least within the LGB community; we knew what it meant. Of course, like any other symbol, it could be interpreted by others in whatever way, such as Christians who find it offensive and who want the rainbow to be given back to God.

Now the former Lesbian and Gay Rights Movement has become the alphabet soup of LGBTQQIP2SAA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit (2S), androgynous and asexual). The alphabet soup is sprinkled with thirty pride flags, further diluting the broth of the movement. There can be no unity under thirty flags, especially when there are Rubber Pride, BDSM, Pony Pride, and Fetish flags. The movement went from trying to convince heterosexuals that homosexuals are not sexual deviants to openly celebrating fetishes. We are nowhere near being on the same page anymore. The flags do not represent movements or calls to action, they represent identities. The LGBTQ+ movement should be renamed the Navel-Gazers. Wave your flags, shout out your letter, and buy all the Pride merchandise.

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Top left to right: Pony Pride, Rubber Pride, BDSM. Bottom: Fetish Flag

The introduction to the journal Politics, Religion, & Ideology’s edition on Symbolism and Politics states:

This multivocality of symbols means that symbolic discourse is a battleground of ideas and interpretations as individuals and groups struggle over political questions and seek to mobilize symbols in support of their cause. This combination of the centrality of symbols and their multivocality means that in any political conflict, it is important for the different sides to try to secure the dominance of their particular mode of symbolic discourse, of their interpretation of the symbols. If they can achieve this, and thereby have the particular dispute framed in terms of their preferred symbolic discourse rather than that of their opponents, they will have an advantage in the playing out of the political conflict.

The LGBTQ+ movement has completely failed to “secure dominance of [its] particular mode of symbolic discourse.” One attempt to gain control over the symbolism was the Progress Pride flag, which is what many of those who claim to be a part of the community and who go along with whatever they are told to do have replaced their traditional rainbow flags with. This flag is a perfect symbol of how the LGBTQ+ movement has completely lost the plot. It tries to fit as many identities as possible onto a single flag and it is not graphically pleasing. The flag has come to represent everything and nothing. When all colors are mixed together, they become black. Perhaps the movement should just have a black flag, devoid of all meaning.

The flag people in Roseville proposed that the city either fly both the rainbow Pride flag and the Transgender Pride flag, or that the city fly the Progress Pride flag. They could not even stick by one flag, which presumably would be the in-vogue Progress Pride flag. This did not help their case. Those who commented against flying a Pride flag used this to their advantage when they asked, “How many more flags are going to have to go up in the name of inclusion?”

The City Council decided to not fly a Pride flag of any kind because flagpoles are not used for public free speech. Flagpoles that are used and maintained by the city are considered “Government Speech,” which is when the government uses its free speech, and the government does not need to remain neutral. During public forums for free speech, the government must remain neutral. Basically, the City Council decided to keep things simple and to just display the US flag, the state flag, and the city flag. The City of Roseville did create its own Pride flag with a heart and the words “We are Roseville” in rainbow colors, which the flag people waved during the council meeting. But you know what they say, give them an inch…

Emiliann Lorenzen is a lesbian radical feminist from Sacramento, California. She has a Master of Arts in English, and she is a writer and editor. She centers women in her life, and she hopes to see women from around the globe come together in celebration of their sex, to lift each other up, and to help each other, despite any differences.