What is it with homosexuals and rainbows?

My friend's brother is gay and he is all "Rainbow this" and "Rainbow that"

He wears rainbow clothing.

What do rainbows have anything to do with homosexuality?

Because rainbows appear whenever God has gay sex, of course.

...on a serious note, the rainbow flag is meant to represent the diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. It was designed in 1978 by artist Gilbert Baker for the Gay Freedom Day Parade held that year on June 25th.

The rainbow flag grew more popular over time as people came to associate it with gay pride.

As a bisexual I can honestly say I'm not too fond of being a) being grouped with things that aren't sexual identities (say, transvestites) ( b) being grouped at all with the rainbow.

Each colour stands for something.

Red stands for courage over prejudice and the strength to stay true to your identity.
Orange signifies potential.
Yellow will stand for the challenges and obstacles that will be synthesised by;
Green - the strive for understanding, empathy and recognising collaborative effort.
Light Blue signifies the need to provide education and remain humility to still be in need of social education or otherwise, compassion for others and striving for a common goal.
Deep Blue reminisces on the hardships the gay community has been through and the potential hardships it has yet to face.
Violet symbolises love, friendship and god will.
Sporadically, more colours are added, or some stripes removed for specific places, although this flag is generally the standard.

Majoradorf - as for your brother's friend wearing rainbows and all that (given that you're not indeed just bull****ting to perpetuate a stereotype that all homosexuals are effeminate and dress solely in rainbow-related clothing) I'd say it was just what emo-subculture does. Dress in a specific style simply to reflect their state of mind, to follow friends, or just he's looking for attention. Again, that applies to any subculture fashion.
Inherently, I suppose it's just to identify himself.

The Rainbow flag has always been linked intrinsically with gay culture and has been their symbol for decades.

Danger: Indeed, the flag is more commonly edited to reflect sexual practise rather than the orientation in general, though the latest trends within the last few years are to keep the main rainbow flag as a constant, while sub-cultures of the gay identity have their own flags to represent themselves, like a borwn, sepia flag, akin to the rainbow, with a bearpaw print to represent the Bear subculture, etc.



EDIT: Future is awesome! <3

Originally Posted by Danger

As a bisexual I can honestly say I'm not too fond of being a) being grouped with things that aren't sexual identities (say, transvestites) ( b) being grouped at all with the rainbow.

This is equally annoying to heteros who like the rainbow. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "huh huh huh ur gay!!!!" just for liking to look at rainbows.

Originally Posted by Majoradorf

My friend's brother is gay and he is all "Rainbow this" and "Rainbow that"

He wears rainbow clothing.

What do rainbows have anything to do with homosexuality?

Coz it's freakin' cool!

Why does everything need to have a reason?

Originally Posted by John Henry Eden

This is equally annoying to heteros who like the rainbow. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "huh huh huh ur gay!!!!" just for liking to look at rainbows.

That's homophobic slur and idiocy. Not the fault of homosexuals.

Originally Posted by SuperDecimal

That's homophobic slur and idiocy. Not the fault of homosexuals.

I'm aware of this. I was just pointing out that associating homosexuals with rainbows is equally irritating to people of either sexuality.

Originally Posted by Danger

As a bisexual I can honestly say I'm not too fond of being a) being grouped with things that aren't sexual identities (say, transvestites) ( b) being grouped at all with the rainbow.

I agree completely.

Being gay myself, I don't like the whole idea of having a symbol or flag to represent my sexual preference... it just seems rather silly and unnecessary, and just feeds into a group identity, when in reality I'm an individual and not a member of a group or community just because I'm gay.

And gay pride parades... yeah... I go to those all the time when I'm not busy at the white pride parades.

Originally Posted by Danger

As a bisexual I can honestly say I'm not too fond of being a) being grouped with things that aren't sexual identities (say, transvestites) ( b) being grouped at all with the rainbow.

Originally Posted by vondur

I agree completely.

Being gay myself, I don't like the whole idea of having a symbol or flag to represent my sexual preference... it just seems rather silly and unnecessary, and just feeds into a group identity, when in reality I'm an individual and not a member of a group or community just because I'm gay.

And gay pride parades... yeah... I go to those all the time when I'm not busy at the white pride parades.

I'm heterosexual (or some might mistakenly call me asexual) so I can't say this from experience, but I imagine if I were gay or bisexual this is how I'd think. The entire idea seems stupid to me, and ironically only seems to serve to divide even more.

The LGBT at my Uni is called 'Spectrum' and this is what the Rainbow represents to them- it's that the whole human life is a spectrum of uncountable qualities and we all fit on the rainbow- the spectrum of human existance, sexuality, religion, race all that after-school special jazz.

I'm straight and am on the same spectrum as everybody else on this planet. One of humanity.

Here endeth the special

I just thought the rainbow had something to do with the whole homosexual feminine-like act.

Another question...

Why do Homosexuals (Male ones) act kind of girly?

Is it like... "That guy likes girls , so I will act more girly to attract that straight guy"?
Is it like an instinct to act kind of girly.

No offense to those really manly gay guys.

Originally Posted by Majoradorf

I just thought the rainbow had something to do with the whole homosexual feminine-like act.

Another question...

Why do Homosexuals (Male ones) act kind of girly?

Is it like... "That guy likes girls , so I will act more girly to attract that straight guy"?
Is it like an instinct to act kind of girly.

No offense to those really manly gay guys.

Because acting girly is fun? Try it sometime.


No seriously, they seem to act more girly because they are allowed to express themselves freely without caring about social repercussions, and your ill defined method of determining gender.

I'm straight but am quite camp and have known to make-up it up a notch on occasion.

Though to be honest I've never understood it- moreso with the whole 'dyke' image of certain lesbians I know.

Surely, as a lesbian, you fancy GIRLS, so you'd want to make yourself appealing to those who fancy GIRLS- so why remove all your femininity from your appearance?

I don't see the logic...

Originally Posted by Majoradorf

Why do Homosexuals (Male ones) act kind of girly?

Most homosexuals I know (most likely all of these) have a deeper voice than you, could take you on in arm-wrestling easily, and get hit on more by girls than you.

Originally Posted by River Zora

I'm straight but am quite camp and have known to make-up it up a notch on occasion.

Though to be honest I've never understood it- moreso with the whole 'dyke' image of certain lesbians I know.

Surely, as a lesbian, you fancy GIRLS, so you'd want to make yourself appealing to those who fancy GIRLS- so why remove all your femininity from your appearance?

I don't see the logic...

I wouldn't say that a "dyke" removes her femininity so much as she subscribes to a different definition of what aspects of a woman make her attractive. Not being worried about whether men find her attractive, she doesn't have to subscribe to the many stereotypes forced upon women. Why, for example, can't a woman look feminine or attractive with VERY short hair? Sinead O'Connor and Dolores O'Riordan managed it. Men, typically, sell themselves far more on their personality than on their looks. A man can have long hair without being "too feminine":

It's common knowledge that even relatively not-good-looking men are attractive to women, so long as they have confidence in themselves and can make the woman laugh. That charisma is a man's #1 selling point. Ask any girl what they find attractive in a man - they almost all say "confident" and "can make me laugh". Why can't women present themselves that way: based on personality?

I see no problem with people forming a symbol to represent themselves. I approve of them trying stray away from society's rules to be themselves. As a bisexual, I don't have any problems with the rainbow representing a group of people similar to me.

I don't wear rainbows, they're just not good in any design.

He's just a gay hippie

It's common knowledge that even relatively not-good-looking men are attractive to women, so long as they have confidence in themselves and can make the woman laugh. That charisma is a man's #1 selling point. Ask any girl what they find attractive in a man - they almost all say "confident" and "can make me laugh". Why can't women present themselves that way: based on personality?

I entirely agree- which is why I'd be perfectly understanding if non-lesbians also followed the 'I want my personality to count' ideal. I'm 'girly' but straight (as I believe a person can be without active denial ) and so it doesn't matter to me- what bugs me is the oh too real stereotype of the 'dyke'.

I know many very feminine lesbians, but SIGNIFICANTLY fewer straight tomboys/'dyke' image girls. Couple this with the statistic that fewere of my friends (and peopole in general) are gay than straight and you've got an annoyingly niggling stereotype based on pronciples that are not affected by one's orientation. I just wonder what causes this trend when surely it is against logic.

Why do Homosexuals (Male ones) act kind of girly?

I've always wondered about that, just because you're gay doesnt mean you have to act effeminate, I've seen plenty of gays that arent queens, to me the whole thing is just that, an act.