A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. They take the form of a multicoloured arc, with red on the outer part of the arch and violet on the inner section of the arch. (Wikipedia, 2009) In today’s society, when people see a rainbow, they think “gay”. How did such slippage occur? At what point did society decide to agree that a rainbow would suddenly symbolize homosexuals? Growing up, rainbows were aesthetically pleasing to look at. All of the vibrant colors captured the observers’ attention. As from the image above, rainbows are now gay. Homosexuals, in the eyes of many, are not aesthetically pleasing. The meaning/representation of a rainbow has shifted from one extreme, to another. From being completely innocent, to “utterly unreasonable,” society has allowed the true meaning of a rainbow, slip to the complete opposite. What is even more ironic is that in religious beliefs, the rainbow is a promise from God that the terrestrial world will never be destroyed by flood again, as stated in the Bible. It represents a sacred promise. Many Christians believe that homosexuals will go to hell based on the word of the Bible. This shows a large contrast between the light and dark side. It’s just odd how this one image can have such drastic meanings and relationships. What once was an icon is now a symbol. This is bound to occur given that society has the ability to create their own meanings of images, so long as everyone else agrees.
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