Gay pride flag on display with the national flag

most days the flags fly in the front yard along this busy street in Grand Rapids, MI

Flags serve many purposes and appear in diverse settings in connection with personal, corporate, local, state, regional, national, and international organizations or events. Like the verb for marking or setting apart a thing, "to flag" draws a person's attention to something important; something that carries significance, often something intangible but present and real.

Searching the past few years of my photo/video uploads and commentary, there have been at least 66 examples with the keyword 'flag' attached. And a few previous blog compositions come to mind, too. Most instances come from USA, but there are other locations and subjects, too:

Shredded USA flag (retired some months later), https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/45577566424/

Fast-food public display, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/29716417247/

Cemetery dressed for national holiday, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/42419459411/

International flags at Amway Corp., https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/49543044207/

Shrine in rural Japan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/37230805966/

National holiday flag display in Japan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/36513232865/

Campus international flags in China, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/50083306786/

Sandwich packaging in Britain, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/49542917481/

Flying the flag at home, http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpwitteveen/3985554820/

''Police lives matter" blue flag, https://anthroviews.blogspot.com/2020/07/star-spangled-blue-banner.html

Annual display of flag to commemorate September 11 attacks,
https://anthroviews.blogspot.com/2009/10/flags-and-feelings.html


Today's photo, above, shows a neatly kept lawn with crisp national and gay pride flags flying high. Leaving aside the variety of personal and collective meanings and applications of the national flag, and without polling a variety of responses from the passers-by here and the people who live in the house, let us consider some of the meanings that go along with hoisting this flag alone or together with the national flag.

The pattern of the gay pride flag itself has a history, no doubt, and has come to its widely recognized position after many other local designs had been tried. In general, the average person may associate the rainbow with several meanings: a rare thing of wonder and beauty to brighten one's day unexpectedly, a phenomenon comprised of many distinct colors that forms a larger composite, something non-threatening. Each of these interpretations or associations can transfer to the subject of LGBTQ relationships. As a public statement or declaration the rainbow flag is eye-catching, unmistakable, and attractive. For viewers with strong opinions for or against the lives that the flag references - whether it is sexual orientation of the flag owners, someone among family or friends, or none of the above, but meant as a statement of solidarity -- the recognition of the familiar rainbow can go beyond the characteristics of eye-catching, unmistakable, and attractive, to trigger emotional responses that are strongly positive or strongly negative. Meanwhile, for people in-between who have neither strong opinions for and against the flag and its reference, the most remarkable thing about it may be limited to visual or surface reactions, not any particular emotional response.

Little by little the rainbow design has been adopted here and there, visible in Pride Marches in cities around the world in more and more countries, societies, and languages. As a badge or emblem it appears in many forms besides flags. But the concept of a flag carries particular meanings: conventional aspect ratio and contexts of public display lend it a quality of being official (carrying authority), accepted, and authorized. Flags are associated with boundaries, borderlands, and belonging within a group (in-group versus out-group). And flags by the nature of public, prominent, visible display assert something. They are not quiet or passive. They wave and they are held high so as to be seen at a distance. So the physical qualities, the social context, and the cultural traditions for flags contribute to the Gay Pride Movement. The extent to which "gay" is inclusive of L*G*BTQ may be known to people concerned with making distinctions, but for less informed viewers probably the rainbow flag stands everyone claiming a place among the acronym's five letters.