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i looked at the situation with @ENFPbot for myself and his use of the new gay flag (i’m a lesbian btw), so here’s my unbiased thoughts and what i think should happen to mediate this drama. please read and rt
here’s some history because these are essential to understanding why people have ill feelings in the first place.
i’m a lesbian and i personally have no strong feelings against the flag itself,
considering our flag is a combination of the butch positivity flag ( https://majesticmess.com/encyclopedia/lesbian-flag-butch-positivity/) and the (now disowned) lipstick lesbian flag ( https://majesticmess.com/encyclopedia/lesbian-flag-lipstick/).
considering our flag is a combination of the butch positivity flag ( https://majesticmess.com/encyclopedia/lesbian-flag-butch-positivity/) and the (now disowned) lipstick lesbian flag ( https://majesticmess.com/encyclopedia/lesbian-flag-lipstick/).
it does have meaning but it initially came about as a combination of the two.
here’s the unveiling of the lesbian flag: https://sadlesbeandisaster.tumblr.com/post/174514713156/
here’s the unveiling of the lesbian flag: https://sadlesbeandisaster.tumblr.com/post/174514713156/
the thing is, lesbians haven’t had a stable flag up to this day. and lesbians wanted to have a separate flag from the rainbow one. even though the rainbow one is the “lgbt flag” it‘s been seen more as the flag of gay men since trans and bi people got their very own flags.
and i also understand gay men wanting to differentate from the “lgbt umbrella” the rainbow flag implies. the rainbow flag is very vague while the bi, trans, (and the new lesbian) flags are not.
lesbians didn’t have one of their own, like their bi and trans peers, and felt that a gay person’s experience doesnt reflect their own and didnt want to be lumped under the rainbow flag what was mostly associated with gay men.
flags can evolve to inheret meaning in the colors that previously had none. the lipstick lesbian flag was plagiarized ( https://lunarian-therian.tumblr.com/post/186478677842/) and the creator was a bitch. she never stated what the colors represented.
however, sadlesbeandisaster, the creator of the most common lesbian flag used today, deliberately assigned meaning to the colors. the meaning of the white stripe in the middle was changed frm “trans/nb lesbians” to “unique relationships to womanhood”: read https://sadlesbeandisaster.tumblr.com/post/174614745171/
the experience of gay men are different from the experiences of lesbians, so the colors take on different meanings.
the original proposal for the gay man pride flag (Not the one enfpbot uses) is a direct rip-off of the lesbian flag simply because of the hue shift.—
the original proposal for the gay man pride flag (Not the one enfpbot uses) is a direct rip-off of the lesbian flag simply because of the hue shift.—
there is no deeper meaning to it besides blue = masculine. see the history of that flag here: https://archivalflags.tumblr.com/post/619083546572849152
the flag enfpbot is using comes from a rejection of that simplification, altering the colors to set it apart from a recolored lesbian flag with no further meaning. i think it’s a great proposal and the official post is here ( https://gayflagblog.tumblr.com/post/186181118619/).
my only issue is that the 7 stripes with the white stripe in the middle is commonly associated with the lesbian flag and as there are many subflags based on the current widely used lesbian one, and considering we finally feel secure having a flag to call out own, i can understand
the backlash of the gay flag seeming like it piggybacks off of it.
HOWEVER, there are variants of that gay flag! https://gayflagblog.tumblr.com/flagvarients and none of the variants lose the meaning of the proposed flag with the 7 stripes.
i really like the 6-stripe variant:
• it sets it apart from the 7 (or simplified 5) stripe lesbian flag.
• there are six stripes in the rainbow flag, originally associated with gay people in the first place, so it would be more immediately recognizable as a “gay man’s flag”.
• it sets it apart from the 7 (or simplified 5) stripe lesbian flag.
• there are six stripes in the rainbow flag, originally associated with gay people in the first place, so it would be more immediately recognizable as a “gay man’s flag”.
we can see that both original iterations/inspirations of the current flags were plagiarized in the beginning and had murky history that was rejected and repurposed with meaning and inclusivity.
that’s it for the history.
so i think enfpbot has a right to use this flag given the circumstances in which it was created, but use one of the 6-stripe variants instead to set it apart from looking like the lesbian flag.
so i think enfpbot has a right to use this flag given the circumstances in which it was created, but use one of the 6-stripe variants instead to set it apart from looking like the lesbian flag.
i think both sides were acting childish about it but i can see where the frustration comes from. the harassment from the rest of cubetwt wasn’t warranted, but enfpbot making that thread was unnecessary and provocative.
i think apologies should be in order, and both sides should reach a consensus of understanding. enfpbot should recognize why cubetwt didn’t like the flag and respect their discomfort with it by changing it to the 6-stripe one, and cubetwt should recognize the history and behind
the meaning of the new gay flag (the official post earlier in this thread) and respect why it matters to enfpbot.
as i see it, this would is the best way to go about dispelling this drama.
as i see it, this would is the best way to go about dispelling this drama.
