What Exactly Does Gay Pride Flag Signify?
Flag flying over Vienna Academy of Fine Arts raises questions.
This morning, as I was walking through Vienna’s Schillerplatz, I noticed a Gay Pride Flag flying on the roof of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. Note its conspicuous position when one is standing on the Schillerplatz—that is, directly above the statue of the German poet and playwright, Friedrich Schiller and the facade of the Academy.
What does this signify? In my experience, a flag flying above a public building—and the Vienna Academy is a public institution, largely funded by the state—typically signifies a national, state, or municipal governing entity. Historically in Europe, flags often displayed heraldic symbols of the aristocratic or royal families that held title to different counties, duchies, and kingdoms. During the Age of Exploration, it was common for explorers or conquistadores to “plant the flag” of the king or queen who sponsored their expeditions.
The logic of these historic conventions raises the question: has the Gay Pride movement laid symbolic claim to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts? Or is the flag flying above the academy merely a gesture of sympathy or solidarity with the “LGBTQ+ Community?”
This question prompts deeper philosophical questions: Is receiving education and training in the fine arts somehow bound together with one’s sexual preference? Does being gay or lesbian make one more artistically skilled or creative?
Finally, does a single person in the West actually believe that gay men and women are persecuted or treated as second class citizens in domain of fine and applied arts?
The last time I checked persecuted, second class citizens don't get an entire month dedicated to them. And the government doesn't give millions of dollars to public education to implement their agenda.
I do not believe gay men or women are treated as second-class citizens anywhere. It is all a bunch of made up bullshit. Made up by the corporation heads, the politicians, people who call themselves leaders of the community. It’s all about getting people to fight against one another. If we are pitted against one another, we cannot come together and overthrow the evil that governs us. It’s time we all wake up, pull our heads out of our asses, and get over the division and the separation. No one is mistreating anyone because they are gay because they are straight because they are married because they are single because they are white because they are green because they are blue.