1y ago

It's barely June, and the Mayor of London is causing ANOTHER pride flag discourse on the app that is Twitter

www.thepinknews.com

People are losing their minds over the bi-inclusive Progress Pride flag

Queer people are getting their rights violated and removed in real time, and now we have ppl from all across the political spectrum arguing over a flag I have never seen before.

At this point, I'm convinced that the flag is an intentional psyop designed to sow division in the community over colours on a rectangle to distract from actual issues.

41 comments

I cleaned up some of the comments because there was some bickering and fighting. This is a reminder for everyone to be nice on our instance.
It's okay to not like the new flag. It's not okay to call other users racist because they enjoy one pride flag over another.
Given the unprecedented attacks on trans folks and the much higher murder rates of poc queers I think giving them space on the progress flag is more about making a statement about inclusivity and intersectionality than anything else.
Trying to include more groups like bisexual is just missing the point and people arguing that the progress flag should stay the way it is (although no one is talking about the intersex inclusive one which is an interesting statement on the erasure of intersex individuals), is more about the recognition of that statement and trying not to water down the message with a dash of design because it's already pretty crowded.
Ultimately I do not care which flag you fly. It's okay to say that you don't like the design of a particular flag, but you should stop a second before commenting that and think a bit about what you could possibly accomplish with such a statement. It's not your flag and you're not flying it, so ultimately does it matter what you think of it's design? Do you walk up to people with shirts you think are designed poorly and say "your shirt sucks, get a new shirt"? All you're going to do is make them defensive and you're pretty likely to start a fight, especially if you go off on some weird tangent about how you think the flag is bigoted in some fashion. The old adage 'if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all' is pretty much designed for situations like this.
- Yeah. Personally, I find it encouraging to see the progress flag, because it explicitly states its support in a world that's sometimes hostile. I definitely notice when people actively have a problem with me being trans, so it's nice to see people who are supportive making themselves visible.
  I had an older couple of gay men treat me like a zoo animal for just hanging around drinking coffee as a trans woman at pride, in Provincetown of all places, wearing my regular clothes. Like, shoving a camera in my face and commenting to one another about how butch they felt I was. I would have dumped my drink over him if I hadn't been so shocked. A pride flag doesn't really tell me anything about whether you're transphobic.
  
  I had an older couple of gay men treat me like a zoo animal for just hanging around drinking coffee as a trans woman at pride, in Provincetown of all places, wearing my regular clothes. Like, shoving a camera in my face and commenting to one another about how butch they felt I was. I would have dumped my drink over him if I hadn’t been so shocked. A pride flag doesn’t really tell me anything about whether you’re transphobic.
  Wow, so sorry you had to deal with that. 😢 Especially from older gay men who probably had to fight for their own rights when they were young.
  When I look at my own environment it seems the anti-trans sentiment seems to be exploding. Especially since the fascists became the biggest party in the last Dutch elections. I've literally had to cut some "friends" off because I was sick of hearing their BS. Always the same tired fake facts crap too (like "they're trying to convert our kids")
  I'm not trans but some of my friends are, and my impression is that it has become much harder for them in recent years. I always wear rainbow bands in June mainly because I thought it was all inclusive (and I couldn't find progress ones). But I'll try to find a progress one or a trans-flag one to wear beside it this year ❤️
Can somecritter please explain to me how it's June <.< My sources inform me that it's April and I think that April is not June.
Also if being a little extra inclusive is "sowing division" then maybe the community in question has some serious issues with gatekeeping or some other kind of exclusivity. Like, damn, multiple flags can exist at once. If this one cracks someone's ass they're free to fly another instead. No need to demand I buy three bits of cloth if I'm happy just using one.
- Hereupon, the months of the year shall be named as such:
  Just Not June
  Far from June
  Midway to June
  Almost June / Barely June
  Mini June
  June
  June was here
  After June
  Still close to June
  Obviously after June
  No Longer June
  Definitely not June
  (to ease transitioning, initials have been preserved)
- OP is from the future
I think more flag designs are a good thing. It's not like this bi-inclusive flag means it's now illegal to fly the previous version of the progress flag, or an identity-specific flag. Everybody can just pick a flag that resonates with them and allows them to express themselves.
- Idk, I appreciate the progress pride flag because it explicitly includes trans, intersex and poc. There's a decent number of people who would consider themselves part of "the community" and use the standard rainbow flag, who don't consider any identities past LGB. Its nice to be able to signal to people that you are genuinely a safe person/group/whatever who cares about the whole community and their struggles.
- State flags are anti-US because the American flag is already all inclusive.
  
  I think a more direct comparison would be flying the US flag with a state flag covering half of it.
  Personal identity flags are perfectly fine, alongside the rainbow pride flag or just on their own. Just don't cover over the "everyone" flag with specific identities. That's like the opposite of the flag's meaning.
  
  Country flags are anti-humanity because the UN flag is already all inclusive...
  (actually, that one might be true, with all the warmongering populist nationalisms and whatnot)
- this is "all lives matter" all over again. I don't mind a flag that recognizes trans and POC folks, who out of the LGBTQ community are discriminated against the most.
- You're the reason we need this flag.
- A new one I've seen (not the one in the article) was basically just every pride flag stitched together. I thought it looked ugly as hell and that the regular rainbow one already includes everyone; that's why it's a rainbow.
- It's turning into a queer coat of arms, and I'm honestly kinda down with that :D
Darlings, why don't we just all fly the design we prefer, as long as it doesn't include any hate symbols, or explicitly tries to exclude someone.
As a bi person, I find an extra bi flag kinda superfluous, but if someone likes to have it on there, go for it.
- I just think of the pride/progresspride flag as the national pride flag. All the flags like the lesbian pride or bi pride flags are the state flags :3
  
  Few people around these parts care about their state flags (well, except Bavarians, I guess, they're kinda our Texas if you think about it), but that's still a fun analogy.
Sadly, there will always be people pulling "All lives matter"-esque b.s., even on the Left. What's even sadder is that they've (consciously or otherwise) bought into the Right-wing narrative that not including every group equally when showing support is exclusionary to people or characteristics that are not in fact in need of that support, but also, as we see here, sometimes even taking the stance that only they get to determine the version that is 'properly' inclusive, not anyone else.
To wit, if the standard Pride flag is meant to represent everyone, equally including cisgender straight white folks, then it's by definition not a symbol of especial support for marginalized folks. If it's not inclusive of cisgender straight white folks, then who else is it not inclusive of, if the colors aren't actually being mapped to specific groups?
It makes perfect sense to me why variations have emerged, and there's no need to try to pare the field down artificially. New flags emerge all the time, and fall in and out of use. Flags are a choice about how you present yourself, in choosing to fly them, and it's not anyone's place to be telling other people they are beholden to use a certain flag.
"We have a flag that represents you all, but your communities don't get to decide if it represents you, or if you would be better represented in another way, you listen to me!" - Such a very inclusive mindset! /s
I consider then immediately disregard the possibility that due to an ever increasing number of marginalized groups being included, the flag will eventually devolve into piece #196 from the babel image archives

41 comments