The Pride Flag: Aesthetically Challenged and Obsessed with Identity Politics

In June, the pride flag is ubiquitous, supplementing and sometimes supplanting Old Glory. The Progress Pride flag, with 11 different colors, was draped on the White House by Team Biden, giving it prominence. However, the pride flag is an aesthetic disaster, always being refashioned, inscrutable, concerned with the recognition of splinter groups, and is hard to understand. It started as eight stripes, got dropped to six, and additional stripes were added to represent every gender identity and sexual orientation. The resulting banner has all the visual appeal of a TV test pattern. The flag has become increasingly esoteric and obsessed with identity politics. Yet, it flies everywhere as though it were a quasi-national flag with universal popular assent. The government shouldn’t promote boutique causes, and the Stars and Stripes should be sufficient for this and every month.