What's the first thing that comes to mind when you see a rainbow-striped heart?

[MercyA]

This is just a simple poll, cross my heart! 😉I am not trying to make ANY point and am not looking for debate. I honestly just want to know: what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you see a rainbow-striped heart? 

Try to picture it with no other context. Maybe just a sticker on a white background? Horizontal stripes. No message.

I have a fairly boring reason for asking this question, but I'll explain later in the thread so as not to influence answers. 

Edited July 22, 2019 by MercyA

[Guest]

Well, when I read the thread title, I imagined it as an emoji and I would assume it meant LGTBQ pride/support/relationship. 

[regentrude]

LGBTQ. Because that's the context in which I encounter rainbows in my community of friends. 

[alisoncooks]

I voted LGBT but if I'd seen it about a decade ago, I would've voted cutesy/Lisa Frank-esque stuff. 

[Ali in OR]

I'm above the age limit to automatically think LGBTQ, but I think for everyone younger than 30, that's where they would automatically go. Rainbows weren't widely associated with that during my formative years.

[MEmama]

Pride. :)

As a child of the 1970s and '80s, the rainbow has been a symbol for LGBTQ rights pretty much my entire life.

I grew up in Northern California and spent my teen years in gay clubs and hanging around the Castro, though, so I guess the rainbow flag has always been a common presence in my world. 

[TravelingChris]

I am the one who voted I don't like either symbol all that much but really it was the rainbow images I don't like very much-  nothing against Gays, little girls, another group I am involved with, Genesis or even real rainbows.   I am just not into that kind of pastelly symbol.  So I could have checked Pride stuff, Genesis stuff, little girl stuff but not really the Lisa Frank stuff because that never comes to mind.  

[chiguirre]

Who is Lisa Frank?

(I spent a long time out of the US and I completely missed this I think.)

[TechWife]

Care Bears.

[TechWife]

34 minutes ago, chiguirre said:

Who is Lisa Frank?

(I spent a long time out of the US and I completely missed this I think.)

Go to Amazon, search for her name and you'll see a variety of very shiny products targeted at young girls. I think it all started with stickers and then exploded from there.

[Jean in Newcastle]

So much for me is context. 

Is it part of the decor of a Little girl's room complete with a unicorn stuffy etc?  Then it's part of Little Girl Motifs.

Is it part of a display including an ark with animals?  Genesis. 

Part of a poster or something related to LGBTQ issues?  Then that.

On a Trapper Keeper or part of a 80's retrospective?  Then Lisa Frank.

 

 

[Tanaqui]

Who was Lisa Frank?

Here, have an explanatory link - Inside the Rainbow Gulag: The Technicolor Rise and Fall of Lisa Frank

Edited July 22, 2019 by Tanaqui

[lispy]

I think pride, mainly because my dd has a rainbow heart shaped pop socket and that's what it means to her. So since she got that,  that is what I'll always first think.  Before she had that, I think it would just depend on where/what  it was and any other context clues surrounding it. 

[Rosie_0801]

18 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

I think it could mean a rainbow baby. I also think it could be LGBT related. 

Btw, I’ve come to know “rainbow baby” to mean a baby born after the loss of another baby. However, I have also heard it mean a baby that passed. Now I just think it’s confusing. A mother told me the other day that she had no living children... then talked about her “rainbow baby” and said the baby would be turning 4 soon. So I guess she meant the baby’s anniversary was approaching? I was just trying to make small talk and felt kinda bad for asking if she had kids. 

 

Small talk makes the world go round.

[Shoeless]

I had a keychain from Coach that was a rainbow heart, so I am reminded of that. 

[AngieW in Texas]

More than 10 years ago, I would have said Lisa Frank. Now I automatically go to LGBT with rainbows.

[MercyA]

Thank you all so much for voting and commenting! You are awesome. 

Here is the context. I am always on the lookout for bulletin board decorations for my Sunday School classroom. I came across this Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World set, which includes rainbow-striped hearts. (However, I just noticed the stripes on the hearts are diagonal, not horizontal. Not sure if that makes a difference.) It also includes doves holding olive branches, which may be reminiscent of Noah's ark or may just represent peace. 

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the little hearts was LGBT pride and was curious if others would have the same association.

I am a child of the 80's and even, say, five years ago I probably would have immediately thought of Lisa Frank stickers and similar products rather than LGBT pride . 🌈❤️🦄

Edited July 23, 2019 by MercyA

[chiguirre]

19 minutes ago, MercyA said:

Thank you all so much for voting and commenting! You are awesome. 

Here is the context. I am always on the lookout for bulletin board decorations for my Sunday School classroom. I came across this Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World set, which includes rainbow-striped hearts. (However, I just noticed the stripes on the hearts are diagonal, not horizontal. Not sure if that makes a difference.) It also includes doves holding olive branches, which may be reminiscent of Noah's ark or may just represent peace. 

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the little hearts was LGBT pride and was curious if others would have the same association.

I am a child of the 80's and even, say, five years ago I probably would have immediately thought of Lisa Frank stickers and similar products rather than LGBT pride . 🌈❤️🦄

If you've got doves with olive branches too, and it's in a Sunday School classroom, I'd think Noah's ark. Context is everything.

[Katy]

39 minutes ago, MercyA said:

Thank you all so much for voting and commenting! You are awesome. 

Here is the context. I am always on the lookout for bulletin board decorations for my Sunday School classroom. I came across this Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World set, which includes rainbow-striped hearts. (However, I just noticed the stripes on the hearts are diagonal, not horizontal. Not sure if that makes a difference.) It also includes doves holding olive branches, which may be reminiscent of Noah's ark or may just represent peace. 

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the little hearts was LGBT pride and was curious if others would have the same association.

I am a child of the 80's and even, say, five years ago I probably would have immediately thought of Lisa Frank stickers and similar products rather than LGBT pride . 🌈❤️🦄

 

In the context of that set it means Jesus loves ALL the little children of the world, no matter what color they are.

[Wheres Toto]

3 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

So much for me is context. 

Is it part of the decor of a Little girl's room complete with a unicorn stuffy etc?  Then it's part of Little Girl Motifs.

Is it part of a display including an ark with animals?  Genesis. 

Part of a poster or something related to LGBTQ issues?  Then that.

On a Trapper Keeper or part of a 80's retrospective?  Then Lisa Frank.

 

 

This.  Also what kind of rainbow is it?  Very bright with kind of fuzzy edges blurring one color into another - Lisa Frank or little girl cute.   Well defined stripes, traditional colors - LGBTQ.

On what you describe, if used as part of an entire set?  Noah's Ark/Genesis.

[AngieW in Texas]

In that context, I would hope that everybody would see it as God's love including LGBT. I am one of the GSA sponsors at the school where I teach and my students often suffer horrible discrimination in their families and at their churches. Any time they see any kind of olive branch extended to them, it helps. 

[MercyA]

It's not going to affect whether I buy the set or not. I just need to decide if I really should spend $11.69 on it. 😉

ETA: If you sign up for Carson-Dellosa's free rewards program, you get free shipping and 10% off every time you order. On your first order, you get 20% off and a "free gift." I am a sucker for discounts and free stuff and found some other posters I liked, too, so I'm going to go for it. They have some cute things! 

Edited July 23, 2019 by MercyA

[MercyA]

Totally agree that the kids won't think anything about it. I think my girls in particular will like the rainbows. 🙂 

I won't be surprised if one or two people look askance at the hearts--if they notice them--but they will likely not say anything. I'm going with a God's promise / Jesus loves children of all colors interpretation. Actually my whole classroom has kind of a rainbow theme going on anyway. 

Edited July 23, 2019 by MercyA

[happypamama]

3 hours ago, Katy said:

 

In the context of that set it means Jesus loves ALL the little children of the world, no matter what color they are.

In that context, that's what it would make me think of as well.

 

In any other religious setting, I'd think of Noah's ark and the flood.

 

But when I see rainbows, I think of my sweet little rainbow baby and others like him, something new and beautiful after one heck of a storm.

[Tap]

Primary colors....LBGTQ

Any other combination (pastel, faded, etc)...a rainbow.

I fully support LBGTQ...but don't like that the rainbow now has be appropriated and now has a specific meaning.  Even one of love and support.  DD and I were just talking about this the other day, she saw a shirt with a rainbow color shift. Before she would have bought  it, now she didn't.  She is a full supporter, but doesn't her clothes to be a statement.

BTW..I live outside of Portland Oregon, where pride is a serious topic. That may affect my strong opinion. 

Edited July 23, 2019 by Tap

[Melissa in Australia]

I am particularly annoyed by gay people taking the rainbow as their symbol. it means little girls can no longer have rainbow clothes  without people think they are supporting them...

 

 

 very sad... my DD had the most beautiful rainbowed tights when she was 4. there would be no way I would put a little girl in some now.

 

 I have heard of a poor little boy age 5 in the next town over  with autism and other complex medical problems. He chose rainbow colours for his new AFOs ( leg splints). His mother didn't think to stop it. He was so bullied at school that he tried to commit suicide.

[Carrie12345]

28 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I am particularly annoyed by gay people taking the rainbow as their symbol. it means little girls can no longer have rainbow clothes  without people think they are supporting them...

 very sad... my DD had the most beautiful rainbowed tights when she was 4. there would be no way I would put a little girl in some now.

 I have heard of a poor little boy age 5 in the next town over  with autism and other complex medical problems. He chose rainbow colours for his new AFOs ( leg splints). His mother didn't think to stop it. He was so bullied at school that he tried to commit suicide.

Yikes. Didn’t know the gays had the power to turn people in your area into monsters. 

[El...]

Getting bullied for rainbow leg splints is not a gay problem. Gay people did not cause that no matter what symbol means what to whom. 

I'm with difficulty refraining from cursing about this.  Poor kid.

[Innisfree]

49 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

He was so bullied at school that he tried to commit suicide.

 

56 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I am particularly annoyed by gay people taking the rainbow as their symbol. it means little girls can no longer have rainbow clothes  without people think they are supporting them...

Melissa, I know you are a kind person. I'm sure you didn't mean this to come across as it does.

But, if kids are bullying a little boy because he wears a symbol they associate with gay people...doesn't that confirm that the support is needed? Of course it is awful that they bullied him. But it's a fair assumption that they'd have bullied a kid who really was gay too, right? Because that's what they saw as the issue, right?

I bet the kids, young and older, who really are gay, and who are growing up in that environment, could use some support.

Quote

According to the 2015 YRBS, LGB students were 140% (12% v. 5%) more likely to not go to school at least one day during the 30 days prior to the survey because of safety concerns, compared with heterosexual students.³ ...

Nearly one-third (29%) of LGB youth had attempted suicide at least once in the prior year compared to 6% of heterosexual youth.3 

https://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/youth.htm

Lots of people are saying context counts for rainbow use. Little girls can probably still wear them. But, if it's that big a deal, let's think about the poisonous environment our gay kids are growing up in. 

[MercyA]

I totally get feeling annoyed when a favorite symbol is used to represent something you don't support. 

I don't really get being annoyed *at* the people who chose it. I mean, rainbows are super cool, and not copyrighted. I'd choose them! 

[TravelingChris]

1 hour ago, happysmileylady said:

Just in general, it would be great to be able to have and wear a favorite color (or colors) without others making presumptions about that person's sexuality or political position.

Uhh, yeah.  And how about occupational choices or hobbies too?  Every person who is in theater isn't gay, everyone who likes NASCAR isn't straight or a Republican, and I could go on and on and on with the stupidities I hear expressed.

It isn't new but seems to have become more prevalent.  

[SKL]

I voted little girl motifs.

One of my daughters loves to draw rainbows and hearts on everything, and she likes to color things in in rainbow patterns.  I don't think she realizes yet that the rainbow has been co-opted by a movement.

I have a fb friend who is pretty religious (Christian).  She has recently posted some things about the rainbow getting back its original (per Judeo-Christian faith) significance.  So there might be a counter-movement out there.

I think it's sad that most people assumed LGBTQ in the poll.  Guess rainbows are no longer common property, and IMO that is a loss.

[SKL]

This thread reminded me of when I was in 8th grade in a new school.  Green was my favorite color, so I had a lot of green clothes.  One day a classmate / potential friend asked me if I was gay.  Why?  "Wearing green on Thursdays is a gay symbol.  You've worn green on 3 Thursdays in a row.  Now everyone thinks you're gay."  Oh.  OK.  After that I was careful not to wear green on Thursdays.

We don't live in a place where gay people are bullied these days.  I'm glad of that.  But I wish people would get over this need to co-opt symbols.

Edited July 23, 2019 by SKL

[regentrude]

13 minutes ago, SKL said:

We don't live in a place where gay people are bullied these days.  

Where is that place?  And you know this how?

 

 But I wish people would get over this need to co-opt symbols

Human history is long, and symbols change meaning. The cross has been used before Christianity, the swastika before the Nazis. Seeing how unique and noticeable rainbows are, I'd bet plenty of cultures used the rainbow symbols before Noah's Ark.

 

Edited July 23, 2019 by regentrude

[Selkie]

I don’t own any clothing with rainbows, but if I did, I can’t imagine thinking, “I’m not going to wear that because someone might think I support gay people.” Because what in the world is wrong with supporting gay people??

[SKL]

7 minutes ago, Selkie said:

I don’t own any clothing with rainbows, but if I did, I can’t imagine thinking, “I’m not going to wear that because someone might think I support gay people.” Because what in the world is wrong with supporting gay people??

The thing is, they may think more than that.  They may assume you vote a certain way and that you hold left-liberal views about other important things.  Also that you want everyone to know your political opinions about everything.  (This may depend on where you live, of course.)

[SKL]

I wish we lived in a world where it is assumed as a default that you "support" gay people i.e. you treat them with the same dignity as everyone else.

[Lady Florida.]

18 hours ago, Ali in OR said:

I'm above the age limit to automatically think LGBTQ, but I think for everyone younger than 30, that's where they would automatically go. Rainbows weren't widely associated with that during my formative years.

 

i'm over 60 and automatically associate rainbows with Pride.

ETA: Maybe it's because I was too old for the Lisa Frank stuff back in the day that my mind doesn't go there.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Lady Florida.

[Selkie]

32 minutes ago, SKL said:

The thing is, they may think more than that.  They may assume you vote a certain way and that you hold left-liberal views about other important things.  Also that you want everyone to know your political opinions about everything.  (This may depend on where you live, of course.)

That's not the kind of thing I would care about, I guess. I'm pretty conservative, but if people want to think I'm a lefty because I support gay people, so be it. It's like people who find out I'm a vegan and automatically assume I'm a liberal. Nope...There are lots of narrow thinkers out there. 

[Lady Florida.]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

The thing is, they may think more than that.  They may assume you vote a certain way and that you hold left-liberal views about other important things.  Also that you want everyone to know your political opinions about everything.  (This may depend on where you live, of course.)

 

14 minutes ago, Selkie said:

That's not the kind of thing I would care about, I guess. I'm pretty conservative, but if people want to think I'm a lefty because I support gay people, so be it. It's like people who find out I'm a vegan and automatically assume I'm a liberal. Nope...There are lots of narrow thinkers out there. 

People think what they think. If you don't know them then why care? If you know them or want to get to know them, you set them straight. In the early 2000s whenever I told someone we were homeschooling I had to correct them because their minds automatically went to "conservative, religious, possibly/probably young-earth" The people who mattered knew the truth. The people I wanted to matter (as in, I hoped to become friends with them) soon learned. Everyone else? I would briefly say something like "we're not religious homeschoolers" mainly so people would know that homeschoolers like us exist. Other than that, I didn't care what people I'd never see again thought about me. It takes too much energy to care what some random person at the grocery store thinks about me.

[Lady Florida.]

18 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

Who was Lisa Frank?

Here, have an explanatory link - Inside the Rainbow Gulag: The Technicolor Rise and Fall of Lisa Frank

Totally off topic but I just finished reading that article. I'm sure this isn't what they wanted me to get out of the story but - 

Her husband's name was James Green. She supposedly named her sons after characters in her lexicon, Hunter and Forrest. If they took their father's last name.... WTH was she thinking? 😂

Edited July 23, 2019 by Lady Florida.

[elegantlion]

I'm over 50 and associate it with LGBT. If it's a rainbow on a little girl's shirt, then I think girl's motif. When ds was little, he had a rainbow painted on his wall. At that point, I thought my son enjoyed rainbows, which he did. 

[Ali in OR]

5 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

 

i'm over 60 and automatically associate rainbows with Pride.

ETA: Maybe it's because I was too old for the Lisa Frank stuff back in the day that my mind doesn't go there.

 

I was a teen in the early '80's, and rainbows were big. I don't know who Lisa Frank is, but I do remember the "in" shirt was white 3/4 sleeve tee with a rainbow that went across the chest and onto the arms. We had a popular teen store in our mall that had random decorative stuff, and I remember the mobiles you would hang that had rainbow hearts or rainbow fringe. There was no LGBTQ meaning in that time AND PLACE (small town in agricultural mecca of CA). It may have already been an LGBTQ symbol to some people in some places, but I would not have called it widely known. I remember when I first became aware it was a more widely known symbol when as an adult our newspaper ran an article about someone's rainbow flag being stolen off their front porch and they thought it was a type of hate crime. Then I became aware of how much that symbol was used by/for the LGBTQ community and I started seeing it all over (and rainbow flags became quite popular in our town after that). But it wasn't the automatic go-to motif in my very LGBTQ-friendly university in the '80s, so I still think of it as a more recent thing.

[Janeway]

I wanted to vote for three things.... 80's/Lisa Frank, Little Girl's motif, and Pretty! But I could only vote for one.

[sweet2ndchance]

I would have voted for more than one as well because it is all about context to me. I wouldn't assume rainbows in a church setting or on a little kid's clothing supported LGBTQ, unless the church outwardly did support the gay community or the child in question had some kind of connection to the gay community.

I remember the rainbow Lisa Frank stuff, that comes to mind when I think of rainbows as well as The Wizard of Oz song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and the song "The Rainbow Connection" performed by Kermit the Frog.

Not a huge fan of hearts as a motif but I do like rainbows. I do support LGBTQ but that's not why I like rainbows. I just think they are pretty and have since I was a kid.

My 6yo son loves rainbow anything. And Unicorns/Narwhals. And My Little Ponies much to my husband's chargin, lol. But he will just as soon play with monster trucks, mud, tools and Nerf guns. I hate when anyone tries to put any child or person in a box based on gender, or the clothes someone wears or the things they like. I've gotten to the point in my life where I just don't care what others think anymore. If someone sees my son out with me wearing something rainbows and asking me to buy him something MLP if they want to make assumptions about me or my son, they are probably not someone I would care to hang out with anyways.

[bolt.]

If the lines are straight horizontal or vertical, I think LGBTQ.

If the lines are curved, like, in a rainbow curve, or otherwise 'puffy' in style -- I think little girls.

Diagonal is kind of in between.

[MercyA]

4 hours ago, StellaM said:

Y'all sad about the rainbow being 'hijacked', don't fret, the flag is changing now anyway.

Over the next couple of years you'll see fewer and fewer straight rainbow flags, no pun intended.

It's now inclusive.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/21/inclusive-pride-flag-confronting-racism-lgbt

(Linked for the pic, there's some inaccurate info in the text)

Interesting, Stella, thanks for the info!

[Frances]

18 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

I am particularly annoyed by gay people taking the rainbow as their symbol. it means little girls can no longer have rainbow clothes  without people think they are supporting them...

 

 

 very sad... my DD had the most beautiful rainbowed tights when she was 4. there would be no way I would put a little girl in some now.

 

 I have heard of a poor little boy age 5 in the next town over  with autism and other complex medical problems. He chose rainbow colours for his new AFOs ( leg splints). His mother didn't think to stop it. He was so bullied at school that he tried to commit suicide.

1

 

12 hours ago, SKL said:

This thread reminded me of when I was in 8th grade in a new school.  Green was my favorite color, so I had a lot of green clothes.  One day a classmate / potential friend asked me if I was gay.  Why?  "Wearing green on Thursdays is a gay symbol.  You've worn green on 3 Thursdays in a row.  Now everyone thinks you're gay."  Oh.  OK.  After that I was careful not to wear green on Thursdays.

We don't live in a place where gay people are bullied these days.  I'm glad of that.  But I wish people would get over this need to co-opt symbols.

Where do you get the idea that gay people are not bullied these days? All kinds of people are still bullied for all kinds of thing. I’m curious about the source of your special, specific information about gay people.

[Frances]

2 hours ago, heartlikealion said:

I interpreted the post to mean her specific community, but I’m not sure. 

But again, how would she possibly know that no gay person in her community is ever bullied?

[Frances]

39 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

She wouldn't. I think she's just making an assumption based on her interactions with community members. 

It seems like a pretty silly, and potentially harmful, and baseless assumption to me.