June 05, 2009
June is Gay Pride month, and rainbow flags will fly over pride events nationwide. But isn't the rainbow a little too... 1978? We’ve commissioned a 21st-century gay flag makeover. Submit your redesign to our Flickr page, and we'll present the best ideas online and on air later this month.
Hey Kurt,
I've listened to your program for years and have found it a thoughtful place for exploration based on a critical understanding of the developments involved in the issue at hand. But this segment was a total hamfisted piece of shite. I expect better from Studio 360.
I'd buy this story a bit more if you actually acknowledged the history of the rainbow flag. This wasn't just a random symbol picked out of thin air. Do even know that? Or did this idea come from some intern who thought it a funny lark of an idea for "pride month."
There was a creator. There's a theory of the reasons for the colors in the flag. Nice job of COMPLETELY ignoring the history and symbolic resonance of a flag that people have marched with by the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS.
You've got a lot of nerve as straight man taking pot shots at one of the few international symbols the Gay community has -- because it doesn't meet your sniff test for hipness? Puh-leese.
Tell it to the thousands upon thousands of Gay people around the world who have marched in the streets with it, at AIDS rallies, at memorial services for the slain and wounded in a world that never gave us the terms or symbols for our own edification. You'd be better served to come up with a flag for quiet solidarity with groups you don't really "get."
I'm seriously disappointed at your dismissive cheek.
Dan,
Our project is meant to be a lighthearted creative exercise. We don't intend to disrespect or denigrate the rainbow flag, and we're sorry that it came across that way. We're looking for creative ideas on how else gay pride could be expressed visually and artistically today. It's meant to be a celebration of pride.
We did a similar segment a couple years ago when we had the design firm Pentagram re-imagine a look for Christmas - which was about adding a fresh aesthetic idea to all the commercialized iconography. You can check out that segment here: http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2008/12/05/segments/117279
Some people were also upset by it, but others loved it. We opened up a dialogue about it, which is the important thing!
Leital
Studio 360 Sr. Producer
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