( Supplied: Poster Collection, Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives)
Mr Henderson said it was hard to determine when the rainbow flag was first used in Australia, but observed its prominence within the local LGBT community arose in the 1990s.ĭown to Earth: Canberra, 10-14 December, 1976.
Other variations of the flag have existed, with some including a canton of white stars in the top left corner and white stripes in between the colours, similar to the American national flag. "So eventually those two colours, which were the hardest colours to obtain, dropped off," Mr Henderson explained. Red was for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, indigo for serenity, and violet for spirit.Ī hot-pink strip across the top representing sexuality and a turquoise strip for magic and art were difficult to reproduce with the original hand-coloured process.
The rainbow flag originally featured eight coloured stripes, with each one representing something different.
Soon after the flag's creation, Mr Baker fought a legal battle to keep it from being trademarked so it could remain free for public use.
S Leather in San Francisco, claimed that he created the first hanky code with his business partners at Leather 'n' Things in 1972, when their bandana supplier inadvertently doubled their order and the expanded code would help them sell the extra colors they had received.Gay Pride Week, September 6 to 18, 1973. The red and blue handkerchiefs and their significance were already in existence, and meanings were assigned to other colors as well.Īlan Selby, founder of Mr. The Trading Post, a department store specializing in erotic merchandise, began promoting handkerchiefs in the store and printing cards with their meanings. In San Francisco, the signs began appearing around 1971. Others say that it was around 1971 by the San Francisco department store for erotic merchandise, The Trading Post. Some say it started in New York City in late 1970 or early 1971 when a journalist (not Michael Musto) for the Village Voice joked that instead of simply wearing keys to indicate whether someone was a "top" or a "bottom", it would be more efficient to subtly announce their particular sexual focus by wearing different colored hankies. It is thought that the wearing of bandanas by men originated in San Francisco after the Gold Rush, when, because of a shortage of women, men dancing with each other in square dances developed a code wherein the man wearing the blue bandana took the male part in the square dance, and the man wearing the red bandana took the female part.Ĭlaims to when the more modern hanky code started vary. Color-coded, this system has been historically used by gay men to indicate preferred sexual fetishes, what kind of sex they are seeking, and whether they are a top or bottom. The handkerchief code (also known as the hanky code, the bandana code and flagging) is the wearing of various colored bandanas around the neck was common in the mid- and late-nineteenth century among cowboys, steam railroad engineers and miners in the Western United States. Here, we take a look at the tools gay men have historically used to determine who is into what. But questions like “into” and “looking for” have been around a lot longer than the dating apps we use today to ask them. Some may think that the gay community’s obsession with finding out the sexual proclivities of a potential partner is a trend of today.