Pride Month Special: Exploring Flowers That Embody the History of LGBTQ+ Movement

The history of pride month is entrenched in the Stonewall riots. In June of the late 1960s, the police raided The Stonewall Inn — a New York City gay bar. In 1970, demonstrators commemorated the riot’s first anniversary by carrying flowers in solidarity and marching through New York City’s neighborhood. This event is considered the LGBTQ+ community’s first pride march.

After eight years of the incident, artist Gilbert Baker created an iconic rainbow flag that was debuted in an event in San Francisco; the flag symbolized gay pride. Later, flowers were considered as a way of expressing support for the gay pride movement. As a matter of fact, flowers have been used in the coded language spoken in the LBGTQ+ community for a long time.

Green carnation

In the early 1890s, writer Oscar Wilde popularized the idea of adorning a green carnation that symbolized being gay. Wilde even told his friends to wear the flower on their lapels during the opening of his play, “Lady Windermere’s Fan.”

 

With time, this flower was adorned only by men who were attracted to other men. Being a strong badge of homosexuality, this flower was worn by only those who knew about its symbolism. In 1892, Lord Alfred Douglas — who was Wilde’s love interest — penned a poem known as “Two Loves.” In this poem, Douglas painted a vivid image of a utopian landscape filled with flowers.

Violets

The archaic Greek poet, Sappho, lived on Lesbos and often linked violets with female love in her ancient poems. Girls often frolicked wearing crowns of violets, expressing their love for females. For many centuries, violets were used as a coded reference in the world of female love. In 1926, a play debuted that saw a female character sending violets to one other female character. When a literary scholar reported on the play’s hidden reference to lesbianism in a journal, it created an uproar and was censored. Following the furor caused by the play, the district attorney’s office had to close its production in 1927. Because of its association with lesbianism, the sale of violets went down too.

Nonetheless, when the play was shown in Paris, a few women wore violet to show solidarity with the play’s theme. The celebrated playwright, Tennessee Williams, named a character of one of his plays on the flower. That was how Williams weaved lesbianism into his play’s plot. Because of its symbolic history, the violet flower’s color is also included in the rainbow flag.

 

Express your support for the LBGTQ+ community in pride month

 

Here are two of the many flowers that symbolize the LBGTQ+ community. In pride month, do you want to express your support for the members of this community through flowers? If so, trust an online florist that has a wide selection of flowers that you can wear or gift to show your love toward the LBGTQ+ members.

 

But which online florist will make sure you get a vivid selection of flowers for pride month? Here is where we, at Flora2000, come into play. We have a huge gamut of flowers including violets, carnations, roses and more. Other than that, we also make breathtaking floral arrangements that will help strengthen the solidarity and beauty of the pride march.

 

Besides offering a wide collection of flowers, we are known for blazingly flower delivery in the USA. When you want to get flowers delivered or send gifts online, we will be your most trusted partner. Visit https://www.flora2000.com/ for finding flowers and gifts that will make this pride month of solidarity and equality even more beautiful.