Flower power and LGBT+ history
Throughout time, it’s easy to trace how flowers have taken on symbolic meaning for different cultures, religions and social groups.
The ancient Greeks associated roses with Aphrodite, the goddess of love, while the ancient Egyptians believed that the lotus represented rebirth and creation.
The Victorians were particularly prolific with the meanings they assigned to flowers, developing an entire language – ‘floriography’ – which they used to communicate with each other.
Ancient Greek poet Sappho, who hailed from the island of Lesbos (the root word of lesbian,) wrote of women and girls frolicking together with garlands of violets in their hair; ever since violets have been associated with female lovers. And the world-famous Little Sister’s Book Store and Art Emporium still exists today, now on Davie Street, after surviving several attempted bombings and challenging Canada Customs in the Supreme Court for its right to import so-called “obscene materials” from the U.S.
So many milestones achieved, and so many yet to come.
Fleurs de Villes has celebrated Pride across the world: from San Francisco, to Sydney, Australia for World Pride, and of course in our home town of Vancouver, Canada.
Deni Todorovic floral mannequin created by Paper Daisy Studio, Sydney 2023
Deni Todorovic floral mannequin created by Paper Daisy Studio, Sydney 2023
In the late 1970s, a rainbow flag created by artist Gilbert Baker made its debut at the San Francisco event to symbolize Gay Pride and has since become an iconic symbol.
The language of flowers, or floriography, was the Victorian trend of applying meanings to certain flowers to reflect specific emotions or sentiments, allowing subtle messages to be communicated through carefully-curated bouquets. Towards the end of the 19th century, writers and poets came to celebrate Sappho as a predecessor of lesbian artists, with the violet as a lesbian symbol.
In the early part of the 20th century, lesbians in Paris who studied and celebrated the works of Sappho wore violets on their clothes.
Famously, Oscar Wilde asked his fellow gay friends to wear a green carnation in their lapels in proud solidarity at the premiere of his play, Lady Windermere’s Fan, in 1892. Even Hollywood saw a brief swell in casting of flamboyantly, if not openly, gay actors, such as drag artist Jean Malin.
As the 1930s and prohibition ended, police cracked down on queer friendly clubs, and the Hays Code brought an end to any overtly gay characters being portrayed on screen.
While pansy was once used as a pejorative, it is slowly being reclaimed by some in the gay community as a term of endearment.
Artist Paul Harfleet plants pansies at sites where homophobic and transphobic violence has occurred in London and across the world in an art piece called The Pansy Project.
Lavender
Violets are not the only purple flower linked to the queer community.
Into the 1930s and 40s, lavender became increasingly associated with gay men and lesbian women.
After the communist Red Scare in the 1940s and 50s, the USA went through a similar but lesser-known period of history called the Lavender Scare, where homosexual people throughout American society were ousted from government jobs due to their perceived communist sympathies.
As a result, the colour lavender became a symbol of empowerment within the LGBTQ+ community.
In 1969, the president of the National Organization for Women claimed lesbian membership of the group was a ’Lavender Menace‘, and would threaten the progress of the feminist movement.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, subsequent to the Stonewall Riots and the advent of gay liberation, pink slowly rose to become the defacto colour for gay pride.
Most of the Royal Parks have two displays each year - in spring and summer - with the colour and greenery in the flower beds being designed a year in advance.