I couldn't attend yesterday's celebration of the life of Rainbow Flag creator Gilbert Baker. But I was so moved by my friend Jay Blotcher's post about it that I had to share:
Still tingling over last evening's amazing memorial tribute for Gilbert Baker in NYC. The image that sticks with me? Gilbert's stalwart, loving mother, Patricia, participating in the march down Christopher Street to raise the Rainbow Flag at Hudson River Park. It broke my heart, but also energized it. Such grace and dignity -- clearly a hallmark of the entire Baker family.
By the way: I've been deeply disheartened by all of the vitriol I've been reading regarding Philadelphia's redesign featuring black and brown stripes to celebrate racial diversity. I get that the original flag -- which was already stripped of pink and turquoise to save money -- doesn't symbolize any race or skin color. (There's obviously no white stripe.) And I get that brown and black aren't colors that appear in actual rainbows. But I don't get the need to be so instantly dismissive of people who do feel the change would mean something to them. (Did you feel this way when LGBT people were being told New York City's St. Patrick's Day parade wasn't about "being gay," so they couldn't march representing themselves as such?) We're fortunate to be living in a time of greater awareness of discrimination and inequality, which is why all LGBT Americans now enjoy equal rights on many (but not all) fronts. How about putting what we've learned to use and listening to people who still feel they are not being heard instead of insisting that everything is fine "as is" just because you see things differently?
From HERE.
