Lavender has been associated with the LGBTQ+community since the 19th century, but it rose in popularity in 1969 after being worn by participants in a “gay power” march in NYC. Today, lavender continues to show up in gay culture. EMU's lavender graduation celebrates queer students who are graduating each semester. Even lavender lattes, with oat milk, can be a symbol of queerness.

Pansy is widely used as derogatory term to describe gay men as weak or feminine. Ironically, the pansy is quite a hardy flower! In the 1930s, the queer community reclaimed the pansy, starting the “Pansy Craze” - a queer, bohemian lifestyle where many would attend parties with drag artists or “pansy performers.” The Pansy Project also works to plant pansies at sites of homophobic abuse.

Sappho uses violets in her poetry and gives us the words “sapphic” and “lesbian.” At the beginning of the 20th century, violets reemerge in the queer community particularly with lesbians in Paris who had a renewed interest in Sappho’s work.

The rose is the ultimate symbol of love, including LGBTQ+ love. In the 1960s and ‘70s in Japan, the rose saw a resurgence in the queer media. The first Japanese gay magazine was called Barazokuku” or “Rose Tribe.” Tie-dyed roses are popular at pride events today.

Popularized by Oscar Wilde, green carnations became a symbol in the queer community. Wilde was well known for his romantic interest in men, and used the opening night of his 1982 play, “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” to stir the pot. He asked his actors and some of his admirers to wear the flower, without telling them why, creating a buzz and mystery around the flower.