WRITTEN BY JUDY HARRISON
There will be a new pride flag hanging from the roof of Paddy Murphy’s in Westmarket Square this month. The decade-old rainbow flag was faded and tattered after years in the sun, wind, rain, and the unpredictable Bangor weather, according to organizers.
The replacement flag will look a bit different from the old, classic flag. It will be the Progress Pride Flag, also known as the Pride Flag Reboot.
That flag and others around the city help make members of the LGBTQ+ community feel welcome in Bangor, according to Betsy Lundy, executive director of Downtown Bangor Partnership.
“Downtown Bangor is the highest density residential, commercial, and visitor hub north of Portland and what flag we fly gets seen,” she said. “We often hear from people how many rainbow flags they see around and how safe and welcome it makes them feel. … That is a visible representation of our city’s commitment to creating a safe and welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ population.”
Designed in 2018 by Daniel Quasar, it adds a chevron of white, pink, blue, brown, and black to the traditional six-stripe rainbow flag to place greater emphasis on inclusion in the LBGTQ+ community, representing trans and non-binary individuals, as well as marginalised People of Colour (POC) communities. The black stripe has a double meaning as it is also intended for those living with AIDS and those who have been lost to the disease.
The new 15- by 25-foot flag is listed at $2,680 from Pride Flags SD in San Diego, California.
People who donated funds for the flag had their names or the name of a loved one placed on the back of the flag. The cost was $5 per name. Bangor Pride also held a fundraiser in April at Therapeutic Bodywork Learning Center in Brewer. That event raised $1,000 toward the purchase of the new flag. As of early May, fundraising for the new flag was complete, with half of the funds donated by community members and the remaining portion from Bangor Pride fundraisers and sponsorships.
The first rainbow flag debuted in 1978 at a gay pride event in San Francisco. Designed by artist Gilbert Baker, it sported eight colors that each symbolized an aspect of life – hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, blue for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.
The next year, two of the colors, hot pink and indigo, were dropped due, in part, to the unavailability of some colors, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Since 1979, that flag has become the most recognized symbol of gay pride.
Each year before Bangor’s Pride Festival, city workers paint rainbow colors on the crosswalk on State Street near the Kenduskeag Stream bridge, where Charlie Howard was killed in 1984.
An even bigger flag than the one that flies from Paddy Murphy’s roof will be part of this year’s Bangor Pride Parade for the first time. A portion of the more than a ¼-mile-long River of Pride Flag will be held by volunteers marching in the parade. Depending on the number of people available to hold it, between 150 and 300 feet of the flag, or two sections of the flag, will be in the Queen City. Between 50 and 60 people are needed to hold 300 feet of the flag, according to organizers.
The first 125 feet was sewn by Bishop McKechnie, then a Portland bartender, and friends in 2006, according to the River of Pride website. Over the next two years, 775 feet were added. McKechnie, now of Augusta, added another 750 feet in 2019.
The huge flag also will be in this year’s Portland Pride Parade on June 21. It was carried in 2019 in the 50th anniversary parade in New York City in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, which are considered to be the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement.
