Pride | The traditional ticket has been replaced by more diverse options.
He’s coming celebrate by waving colorful rainbow flags. Alongside the familiar six-color flag, alternative models have appeared in recent years.
Helsinki Pride’s official communication uses the most inclusive version of the rainbow flag, says the executive director Annu Kemppainen.
“In some contexts we can use a more traditional ticket, but preferably we take into account groups of people who need special support as much as possible”, explains Kemppainen.
The progressive flag used by Helsinki Pride also has the colors of the trans flag, i.e. white, pink and turquoise, as well as the brown and black stripes signifying anti-racism.
The newest addition is a circle that takes into account intersex people.
“It’s an important move because Finnish law does not protect the rights of intersex people in any way,” says Kemppainen.
Progressive pride flag.
Rainbow flags has been used in different meanings since at least the 1920s. It first became a symbol of sexual and gender minorities in the United States at the end of the 1970s.
Artist Gilbert Baker (1951–2017) designed the original pride rainbow flag as a tribute to his friend, the murdered city councilor Harvey Milkille (1930–1978). Milk was one of the first openly homosexual American politicians.
The flags made a visible breakthrough in 1979 in San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day parade. The flag drawn up by Gilbert Baker in 1978 has seven colors, but the six-color rainbow flag eventually spread from California.
Accurate there is no information on when the first rainbow flags started to be seen in Finland. They have been seen in private people’s clothing and inside the pride store for a long time.
Flagging in public places is clearly a new phenomenon, says Helsinki Pride’s Annu Kemppainen. He is pleased, for example, by the solidarity shown by more and more building societies by signing tickets.
“Of course, the fact that pride flags are raised in front of Helsinki City Hall is a really nice gesture and an important message for smaller municipalities as well.”
Old According to Kemppainen, the six-color rainbow flag is a classic and a strong symbol.
“If other tickets seem difficult or complicated, you don’t have to use them. The traditional version has by no means outlived its time.”
The rainbow flag will certainly change in the future, says Kemppainen.
“Pride lives in time and comments on the injustices of society, which is also reflected in the new flags. Their task is to communicate that this is everyone’s movement.”