Pride wasn’t cancelled this year.

After a month that’s normally filled with rainbows, Pride month has been muted in the eyes of some. The phrase ‘Pride is cancelled’ has circulated and peppered the lexicon of many LGBT+ people, but that isn’t true. Instead, we’ve had protests more authentically like the original Pride than ever before, and it highlights that Pride wasn’t cancelled this year – Pride took place, and I wish I could have joined those on Saturday in London.

But there is another movement we need to reflect on. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the NHS has been celebrated for its' hard work managing this disease and keeping us safe. Rainbows made by children are displayed proudly in the windows of family homes, and where there was a lack of arts and crafts, households adorned their property in rainbow flags.

This display is heartwarming, but misguided, and until this morning I didn’t realise how strong my feelings on this subject were.

To claim that you’re flying the rainbow flag in support of the NHS is a huge issue for many reasons, but mostly I’m opposed to this icon of the fight for queer liberation being stolen from the LGBT+ community and being repurposed. It’s not to say that we shouldn’t be proud of the institutions that look after us and make us better, but to steal a flag and appropriate it is not acceptable.

It’s natural progression though, isn’t it? From a drawing of a rainbow to the Pride flag, and that might be true, but it also speaks of capitalism and laziness. If I were cynical, I might be weary of a surplus of rainbow stock that due to Pride events across the country being cancelled or postponed, is just sat there gathering dust. There are other ways to show your support for the NHS other than using the Pride flag.

The important thing is the flag itself, and all of its iterations! The story begins in San Fransisco when Gilbert Baker designed a flag for the city’s Pride. In its original incarnation, it featured eight colours, but later dropped the hot pink due to cost, and merged the turquoise and indigo to royal blue, becoming the iconic symbol of a community it is today.

This isn’t to say that the flag cannot continue to evolve and adapt – the Philadelphia Pride flag added a brown and black strip to the common six colour flag, and the Progress Pride flag added a triangle combining brown and black, as well as the blue, white and pink from the Transgender Pride flag on top of the common six colour flag.

That said, a rainbow flag with an NHS logo overlaid is fairly common, but its use is to celebrate the organisation’s LGBT+ members, and not to wave in general support of the institution.

But in honesty, whilst we should be grateful for our NHS and the service of all it’s staff in keeping us safe, we shouldn’t be showing our adoration by clapping on our doorsteps once a week, or waving an appropriated flag from an oppressed minority still fighting to secure fundamental basic rights for itself.

Instead, we should be properly funding this great organisation, localising and decentralising decision making, entrusting our healthcare workers and educating the public on when they can rely on the services. Not paying lip service by positioning it to be unpatriotic if you resist waving a stolen flag in support of people doing their jobs.

So as Pride Month comes to an end and you’re currently flying the Pride flag, think about why you’re still flying it. If you’re displaying your support for queer liberation, then wave that flag, but if not it was never really your flag to fly anyway.