Ppl got a right to do their flag. It’s Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, this makes sense. Might not make sense where you’re at, but I can see why they did it there.
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Did 5 seconds of research. Apparently, racism in gay bars is a thing. So, this is one of the reasons for adding it there. So, makes sense for them to do it.
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It’s for gay people of color. In Philly, apparently there’s racism against black and brown people in gay clubs. While I didn’t know about that stuff, I *did* know that Philly has a large black and brown population in general. For them? I think it makes sense to add the two stripes. For elsewhere? Probably not.
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They’re not forcing clubs in Philly to use the new flag. But for those that fly it, it’s signalling, “we’re not racists here”.
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I suspect, if we didn’t have the internet, none of us would know that a single organization in a single city decided to create a unique flag representing unique problems they face in their local community.
They’d adopt it, use it, deal with their own issues in their own way.
But we’ve lost a concept of local somewhere along the way. It’s nobody’s fault in particular. But it does mean that communities have to be careful now in dealing with specific problems in unique ways because the world watches now.
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Ultimately, I think this is a good thing. At one time, schools for example were little insulated communities. Elementary/middle/high schools all would have their own weird local rules that made sense to the people there, but people on the outside would be horrified.
In school spankings, religious or almost cult-like local practices went on for decades in the schools of sleepy towns and nobody else knew about it.
Now? It’s more likely to be exposed and shamed, for better or worse.
I don’t like public shaming of individuals generally but organizations that represent or deal with large amounts of people deserve public scrutiny because they have a responsibility for more than just themselves.
So that this organization is coming under fire from across the globe is ultimately a good thing. Hopefully they use this opportunity wisely.
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