The LGBT+ community lives in a prism in which a kaleidoscope of colors come from it through one singular experience: knowing a life of discrimination, oppression, and injustice due to one’s own sexuality. The same colors that disperse from white light as it passes through a prism are the colors that decorate the rainbow flag which has been a long-standing symbol of the LGBT+ community. Originally designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978 , the rainbow flag has since then gone through several incarnations to reach what many of us are now familiar with, the six-stripped flag.
The rainbow flag has gone unaltered until recently: currently hoisted on a pole outside of Philadelphia’s city hall is a rainbow flag with two added stripes a black and brown stripe to represent the individuals of color that are part of the LGBT+ community.
Yet there are many individuals that feel that this new flag is a violation of the original flag and its founding principal of inclusion. This new flag seems unnecessary, because although a community is made up of marginalized individuals who understand oppression and discrimination and have been founded on the principles of inclusion, it does not mean they are perfect. Otherwise, America would truly be the land of the free. The LGBT+ community is guilty of ignoring its brothers and sisters of color. Race has always been an issue within the community and it will continue to be an issue until it is accepted and addressed.
Many fear that bring race into the conversation will ultimately divide the LGBT+ community, but it is this exact train of through that divides the community. How can the LGBT+ community ignore the unique experiences and needs of its members of color? According to a study conducted by a professor at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver LGBT+ people of color experience higher rates of both employment and housing discrimination than white LGBT+ individuals, as well as greater levels of anti-LGBT physical violence while in high school and middle school, and a significantly higher percentage of LGBT+ people of color than white LGBT+ individuals have been refused treatment by a medical provider simply because they are LGBT+. Many of these conclusions appeared in a 2009 report released by LAMBDA Legal . Ignoring the fact that an LGBT+ person of color must not only learn to navigate their world as an LGBT+ individual but also as a member of a racial minority group, the LGBT+ community is at fault of racism by omission at the very least.
Many health websites including the CDC state that men that have sex with men are at a greater risk for HIV with about 61% of this population accounting for all new HIV infections. But now consider that African-Americans make up 14% of the US population, but account for 44% of the HIV-positive population, while Latinos face three times the HIV infection rates as whites. There is a clear racial disparity in the people who contract HIV. Much of this comes from the discrimination that people of color face in their medical treatment.
On many dating apps like Grindr, there has been a trend in casual racism with profiles stating: “whites only, no blacks, no rice, no spice, no chocolate.” Many will chalk this up to sexual preferences, but this is racism. Spice, chocolate, and rice are derogatory terms. People of color already experience discrimination on a greater scale in society, but to open a dating app that is targeted for LGBT+ members and see these derogatory terms freely posted with no backlash or resistance makes many wonder where is the fraternal support that the LGBT+ community keeps talking about.
The LGBT+ experience has always been narrated by the gay cisgender white male. This new rainbow flag is meant to represent the struggle and unheard voices of people of color within the LGBT+ community. There is a flag for transgender representation and bisexual representation; why shouldn’t there be an LGBT+ POC flag? If this new flag makes you uncomfortable, then I suggest that you ask yourself why.
