One commentator even expressed the hope that the embarrassing incident would serve as cautionary tale, warning Afghans against their tendency to blindly follow fashions imported from elsewhere. Once informed about the symbol's meaning, the stickers were removed en mass. Uprooted from its original cultural environment and landing in the country by sheer accident, it would have led an existence devoid of any meaning aside from showing that, like everywhere else in the world, Afghan men loved their cars.īut since Afghanistan is no longer an isolated country, imported symbols are bound to be recognised and decoded not only by globetrotting members of the middle class but also the many expatriate internationals and returnee Afghans. Had it not been for the news agency's interest, the gay pride symbol would have continued to flourish in Afghanistan. Afghans had simply assumed that the colour combination was the latest fashion fad in the west, and duly adopted it. The rainbow stickers had first arrived on secondhand cars imported from Canada.
GAY PRIDE SYMBOL GREEN DRIVERS
For them it was just the newest car fashion accessory but, on learning of its meaning in the west, drivers immediately started removing it. Needless to say, Pajhwok's reporter soon discovered that Afghans who had decorated their cars with the rainbow symbol had no idea what it stood for. In a country where social conservatism sometimes results in gay men sharing their life with their partner of choice and an arranged wife so as to keep up appearances, there was certainly something very unusual about this apparently new openness. Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive because flags are always being devised to reflect different sub-cultures, but hopefully this will useful for the next time you see one of these gorgeous symbols being flown at the next Pride event.Even more remarkably, Afghan drivers seemed to have little concern about using their cars to openly advertise being gay and proud of it. We’ve collected a list of the Pride flags that have become synonymous with various identities in our vibrant community. The existence of this flag doesn’t take away from anybody else’s identity. “That is literally the purpose of any flag we have – to stand as a symbol for an identity, whether it’s a country, a municipality, a company, it stands as a symbol to recognise and highlight the experiences of this entity. Instead it is a way to symbolise, to highlight, and to stand in solidarity with these other identities,” she told GAY TIMES. “This eight-stripe flag is not a replacement, in the same way that that those other flags didn’t replace the original. When we spoke to Amber Hikes, developer of the eight-stripe More Colour More Pride flag, she explained the importance of individual symbols for LGBTQ+ sub-cultures – and she did it beautifully. NEWSFLASH PEOPLE: one flag would be a snooze-fest! There has been pushback, however, from members of the community who argue that the original Pride flag encompasses and celebrates all identities.
Since artist and gay rights activist Gilbert Baker created the original flag in 1978, various designers and advocates have made different (or updated) variations of the flag to better represent individual communities.
Each year, the rainbow flag is flown at Pride events all around a world to reflect the beauty and diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.