I’m a flag guy. Old Glory flaps outside my house most days, to honor America, and to reclaim that particular symbol from guys who roar around town in pickups, burning coal and raising hell. But hey, I can wave a flag, too, which made me a little jealous of a neighbor of mine, who has been flying a Pride flag for years.
Rainbows are rare and beautiful in nature, but on Olive Street in Fort Collins, there’s always one brightening the neighborhood as well. So, when Pride Month hit this year, I wanted a rainbow flag! The flag’s designer, Gilbert Baker, was a gay man and a drag queen. He designed it in 1978, at the suggestion ofHarvey Milk—one of the first openly gay people elected in the United States, on the San Francisco board of supervisors.
This is how Baker described his flag: hot pink for sex–first things first, right?--red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. I wanted all of those at my house!
So I shopped for a Pride flag to call my own. It didn’t go so well. Michael’s craft store was talking a big game online, but the Pride merch was in the bargain bin by the time I got there. Starbucks’ measly offering of two designer hot cups shouted “hope nobody notices!”, not pride. Party City was selling a rainbow-balloon arch for sixty dollars. But that’s not an option for year-round display. I’d also heard rumors of a rainbow-layer cake at Costco, but its bakery was fresh out.
Actually, Costco’s not a bad place to go if Pride is on your shopping list. The Human Rights Campaign, a diligent monitor of gay rights, gives the retailer high marks for its workforce protections and inclusive benefits. And I couldn’t help but note a trans person unremarkably working a long checkout line there. Nothing to see here, people. Just heave those impractically large items onto the conveyor and move along. Plus, Costco is selling Bud Light for just $22.99 a thirty-pack, whatever the Dylan-Mulvaney haters have to say about it.
That Bud Light thing is just a distraction, of course. Who cares? But here’s something worth noting: According to theHuman Rights Campaign, a record 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have advanced in state legislatures this year.
Will my little flag flap any of that away?
It’s important to remember that, during the Stonewall Uprising, the streets were anointed with gay protesters’--and cops’--blood. Pride month was born in violent protests. And now, all these years later, the battle continues—in state legislatures, in schools, around dinner tables, and weirdly, in big-box stores.
My friend Moe read about how Target had withdrawn some Pride merchandise, because of confrontations between customers and staff. So Moe sent a nice note to our local store manager, and learned that only one controversial brand–Abprallen–had been 86ed. She bought a Pride poster there with no problem. It says: Ask me about my pronouns.
While she was telling me this story, she was sitting with her back to a window that looked east from Old Town Fort Collins. Rain was coming down in buckets. As we talked, the sun burst through the clouds and a brilliant rainbow appeared against the dark clouds. Sex, life, light, nature, art, harmony, and spirit were all there—and so much more.
The Pride flag I eventually bought–from the online store at the Human Rights Campaign–didn’t hold a candle to that real rainbow. But someday, a worried queer kid might walk by my house and think, “Maybe I’m not alone in this world?” I sure hope so.
In any case, it will take more than drinking low-cal beer, or flying the right flag, to make the world safe for people who want to love who they love. Especially now, love needs all the support it can get.
