ALONE WE'RE A DROP OF WATER – TOGETHER A MIGHTY RIVER
October 8, 2021
International Lesbian Day celebrates lesbian culture, community and visibility.
IDL dates back to New Zealand activism and is considered to be first celebrated on March 8th, 1980 by a group of 40 lesbians who marched through Wellington Park, New Zealand on International Women’s Day.
International Lesbian Day is marked annual on October 8th because it’s exactly six months after International Women’s Day on March 8th.
A flag meant to show support and inclusiveness for all, no matter race, sex, gender or sexuality, from the rainbow to the grey.
Replacing other symbols the lemniscate symbolizing we’re all infinitely connected to one another no matter our differences.
The Unity Pride Flag celebrates our diversity as individually and our unity as a community. Those who themselves are represented in this flag on the left to those who are on the grey side.
We See You, We Hear You, We Love You & We’re Proud of You
The colours of The Unity Pride Flag come from the roots of Gilbert Baker’s original 8 color Gay Pride Flag in 1978, Jim Evans’s Polyamorous Flag in 1995, Michael Page’s Bisexual Flag in 1998, Monica Helms’s Trans Flag in 1999, Sean Campbell’s Lesbian Flag in 1999, Unknown creator Pansexual Flag in 2010, Aven’s Asexual Flag in 2010, Unknown Demisexual Flag in 2010, Evie Varney’s Pansexual Flag in 2010, KJ People’s Genderfluid Flag in 2012, Tumblr user Samlin’s Polysexual Flag in 2012, AVEN – Aromantic Flag in 2011 & 2014, Morgan Carpenter’s Intersex Flag in 2013,
Salem X’s Agender Flag in 2014, Marilyn Roxie’s Genderqueer Flag in 2010, Marilyn Roxie‘s Nonbinary Flag in 2014, Philadelphia’s addition of Brown and Black representing communities of colour in 2017, Daniel Quasar’s Progress Pride Flag in 2018. You can also find the colours for many other flags here and that represent our allies.
We take a moment to celebrates the achievements of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist who was assassinated in 1978.
Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in a major city in the US, serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1977-1978. His life and political career embody the rise of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights movement.
While in office, Milk worked to pass a gay rights ordinance and defeat Proposition 6, commonly known as the Briggs Initiative, which would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. Milk encouraged LGBT people to be visible in society and believed in achieving social equality.
Milk was assassinated in 1978 by Dan White, a former colleague on the Board of Supervisors whose politics often clashed with Milk’s. On October 11, 2009, Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger established Harvey Milk Day to be held as a significant observance on May 22, which is Milk’s birthday. Harvey Milk Day is marked as a special day of significance in schools across the state.
Deborah Batts – 1994 was the first openly gay or lesbian United States federal judge (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York)
Lea DeLaria is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. DeLaria is credited with being the first openly gay comic to appear on a late-night talk show with her 1993 appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. She is best known for her portrayal of inmate Carrie “Big Boo” Black on Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black.
In December 1993 Lea DeLaria hosted Comedy Central’s Out There, the first all-gay stand-up comedy special.
The first Dyke March (a march for lesbians and their straight female allies, planned by the Lesbian Avengers in 1993) was held in Washington, D.C., with 20,000 women marching
The first lesbian kiss on television occurred in 1991; it was on L.A. Law between the fictional characters of C.J. Lamb (played by Amanda Donohoe) and Abby (Michele Greene).
Becky Smith and Annie Afleck became the first openly lesbian couple in America granted legal, joint adoption of a child.[
Sally Ride first went into space in 1983. In 2012, she died, and her obituary revealed that Ride’s partner of 27 years was a woman, Tam O’Shaughnessy, a professor emerita of school psychology at San Diego State University and childhood friend, who met Ride when both were aspiring tennis players. Ride had also been married to a man previously. Ride is thus the first and only known LGBT astronaut.
Tennis player Billie Jean King became the first prominent professional athlete to come out as a lesbian, when her relationship with her secretary Marilyn Barnett became public in a May 1981 “palimony” lawsuit filed by Barnett. Due to this she lost all of her endorsements