Crosses. Yin & Yang. Mr. Yuk. Symbols are all around us. Instant signifiers of some critical knowledge for the masses to understand. Symbols are also the perfect way to invisibly project a piece of yourself to the world to find others similar to you. In the December 1985 issue of Sappho Speaks: The Lesbian and Gay Quarterly Journal at UCSD, Sharon Moxon wrote this about “gay” symbols
“The need for a system of codes to identify other gay people is a reality. Unlike other American subcultures, members of the gay community are not immediately recognizable by sight. Since our culture is not one of ethnic heritage, we don’t share common physical characteristics. We are also different in that we are not raised within our subculture, which limits our access to role models, positive feelings about our identity, peer support, and cultural information. Because of our isolation within the non-gay world, we have a need to find and have contact with others who are like us, others who have gone through the same ‘coming out’ process and who view the world in a similar way, others who have the same thoughts and desires, and face the same oppression. Since homosexuality still carries a stigma, we are often forced to do our searching in a secretive way.”
Here at QBurgh, we say no more to secrets! Let us help educate you on some queer symbols throughout history that you might be very familiar with or discover for the very first time. Moxon goes on to write:
“As history has progressed, our need to identify others as gay has become more and more pertinent due to the exclusion of gays and gay struggles from mainstream art, literature, and history books. Our folklore is hidden, the definitions are obscured, and the names of our gay ancestors are lost.”
Consider yourself found.
Bears, Otters, and Cubs, oh my!
One of the earliest records of gay male characterizations as animals was in George Mazzei’s article “Who’s who in the Zoo” published in The Advocate in 1979 with descriptions for animals like Gazelles, Pussycats, and Bears who “usually are hunky, chunky types reminiscent of railroad engineers and former football greats.” Each animal typically describes body type, behavior, age, and interests. For example: silver fox.
Gender / Astronomical Symbols
Yes, the kind Austin Powers wore. Based on Venus and Mars, different configurations of these symbols can represent different sexualities and genders.
Hanky Code
Have a light blue bandana hanging out of your right pocket? That means you like to perform oral sex. Colors and pocket direction allow you to express and understand your kinks and sexual attractions first popularized in the 1970s in leather and cruising communities. However, it is said to potentially have even earlier origins after the Gold Rush for cowboys, railroad men, and more to communicate that they preferred male square dance partners
Rainbow Flag
Designed and created initially by Gilbert Baker in 1974 after being challenged by Harvey Milk to design a symbol for the LGBTQ community. Each of the original 8 colors has a distinct meaning.
Hot Pink – Sex, Red – Life, Orange – Healing, Yellow – Sunlight, Green – Nature, Turquoise – Magic/Art, Indigo – Serenity, Violet – Spirit
Equal Sign
Created by the Human Rights Campaign, a lobbying group for LGBTQ+ equality, in 1995, that rose to mass prominence during the fight for marriage equality.
Pink Triangle
A reclaimed badge first used to denote queer people in Nazi Concentration Camps. It is used as a protest symbol (ACTUP’s Silence = Death campaign to fight AIDS) and can be seen iconically on Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s scrubs in The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Brick
Who threw the first one at Stonewall? We may never know, but it became a symbol of queer resistance during the uprising on June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village lead by trans women of color.
Ouroboros
The snake eating its own tail. Snakes have often been used as a lesbian symbol of dark femininity. This represents the life cycle of queer renewal and infinity. Recently depicted in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer.
Carabiners
As Rosie the Riveter spread butch aesthetics, this key holder has become a symbol for queer women in both practicality and expression. See “Ring of Keys” from the musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s FUN HOME- a perfect depiction of self-awakening via queer symbolism
Green carnation
Oscar Wilde asked gay men to wear this flower on their left lapel to the 1892 opening of his play Lady Windermere’s Fan to signify their sexuality and find mutual connections.
Labrys / Double-Sided Axe
First wielded by Ancient Greek Amazonian warriors, it was then featured on the 1999 lesbian flag for communal strength on top of an inverted black triangle and a violet background.
Lambda
Queers love Greeks. Tom Doeer, a Pennsylvania native, chose this lower-case letter of the Greek alphabet for New York City’s Gay Activists Alliance. To him, it represented an exchange of energy. He went on to write in a 1970 pamphlet, “It signifies a commitment among men and women to achieve and defend their human rights as homosexual citizens. The lambda now affirms the liberation of all gay people.”
Lavender
Marriage. Scare. Menace. The convergence of masculine and feminine has become a color of resistance.
Nautical Star
Once used by sailors as a reminder of being guided home, it was then adopted by lesbians to discreetly disclose their sexuality starting in the mid-1900s in Buffalo, NY.
Violets
Sappho, a Greek poet, wrote about women’s love and often depicted her lovers wearing garlands of violets. The 1926 play “La Prisonnière” (The Captive) by Édouard Bourdet featured a lesbian character who gives violets to her lover, and the play’s controversial subject matter and subsequent censorship led to lesbians wearing violets as a form of solidarity and protest. It was also used for “The Violet Quill,” a gay writers group in 1970s NYC, which included writers such as Andrew Holleran and Edmund White. The shade is featured in the lesbian pride flag from 2018 designed by Emily Gwen.
