RAINBOW PRIDE

Times are certainly changing and hopefully for the better. Individuals are able to express themselves more openly than ever before and slowly but surely the world is becoming more accepting and understanding of individual preferences and personal choices. Oct. 11 is National Coming Out Day and will be recognized around the world as a time of celebration and joy for many who have held their beliefs inside and have chosen or are choosing to come out. Now is the time to reach out and understand one another and have respect for each others point of view, whether we agree or not. Every individual have a right to believe whatever is personally meaningful. Expression can take many forms but rainbows represent the LGBT community and rainbow flags will be flying around the world to celebrate this day as well as the rest of Gay Pride month. It seems that bright colors have historically been a way to signal homosexuality to each other. Oscar Wilde wore a trademark green carnation in his lapel; in Australia, wearing a pair of yellow socks did the trick. During the Holocaust, gay men were forced to wear pink triangles. In the 1950's and 1960's, Judy Garland was a major supporter of the gay community and her signature song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" became a popular song among the gay community and its supporters, prior to the popularization of the rainbow flag. WHY THE RAINBOW FLAG? The rainbow did not become the official symbol until the 1978 when Gilbert Baker designed the first modern gay pride flag. The first flag had eight stripes of different colors, each color having a particular meaning.(Eventually pink was dropped and indigo and turquoise were changed to royal blue and the flag now has six colors). The flag achieved national attention when gay activists in San Francisco marched with Baker's flags to protest the assassination of city supervisor, Harvey Milk in 1978. Rainbows have become a popular design for clothing, jewelry, home décor and fashion, not just for the LGBT community for everyone who loves rainbows. At Foot Traffic , we design, manufacture and sell many rainbow novelty socks , tights, and over the knee socks and and hope that during this month we see supporters of the Gay Pride month wearing our legwear as a statement of pride and community.