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  • - My name is Faerie Argyle Rainbow,

  • and I am the original designer

  • of the first set of rainbow flags,

  • and This Is That Story.

  • When I was in junior high and high school, I was interested

  • in clothing and I knew how to sew,

  • and so I wanted colorful, I wanted pink stuff,

  • and I learned how to dye, so I got some bottles

  • of dye and I read the instructions,

  • but it didn't come out how I wanted,

  • so I read up some more stuff.

  • And then it was like, "Oh, maybe if I try that,

  • "it'll get brighter or maybe it'll work better

  • "if I heat it up."

  • And it was just like trial and error.

  • Edgar Cayce was one of the people I was interested in,

  • and he had this whole thing about healing with colors.

  • And he was a psychic medium and he wrote books

  • about healing with colors and I read all that.

  • And I was like, "Oh, boy."

  • You know, I love colors and they could, you know,

  • maybe they're influential on your health.

  • So I got a artwork scholarship to the Academy of Art

  • in the summer when I was 17 to San Francisco,

  • and that's where I met other people in the theater

  • and the arts.

  • When I moved to San Francisco, I supported myself

  • with dying and sewing, making clothes

  • and dance costumes, and costumes

  • in people's special boutiques

  • and a special clothing designer where I did all her fabrics.

  • I got hooked up with these children's theater company

  • called The Moment Museum,

  • and I met a woman named Bethany, The Princess of Argyle.

  • She did shows for kids', children's live performances,

  • and she said, "Oh, I don't like the name Lynn.

  • "I like the name Faerie.

  • "You know, I'm gonna name you Faerie

  • "because you're like fairies

  • "in the forest, the helpers, the little fairies."

  • Argyle would be my middle name

  • because she was The Princess of Argyle

  • and I was in that theater company,

  • and then Rainbow because of loving rainbow.

  • I got involved with the Angels of Light theater company

  • of San Francisco.

  • So I got involved of the Gay Community Center

  • because it right by one of the Angels of Light house

  • and we used to walk everywhere.

  • And so, and then Lee Mently was the Art Gallery Curator

  • at the Gay Community Center on the top floor gallery,

  • and we already knew him from the children's theater.

  • And so, we all came together,

  • and he said "Why don't you rent, we'll rent you a room

  • "on the second floor of the Gay Community Center,

  • "and you can do your dying there.

  • "Here's the room."

  • It had a stove, it had running water but no hot water,

  • but we used to just heat it up in canning pots

  • and then I'd mix in giant trash cans in that room

  • that had a large table to and make a big mess,

  • and then I had to run off to the Washamat Laundromat

  • to wash everything.

  • They were making arrangements

  • to put the parade on, you know.

  • I think it was probably Lee that asked me

  • do I wanna be part of the decorations committee

  • because I'm right there everyday.

  • So, yeah of course.

  • Gilbert came along, he came along during this period.

  • But there was a third person that's got no credit

  • and he passed away from AIDS, his name's James McNamara,

  • and he's the guy that taught Gilbert how to sew.

  • He went to FIT, he knew how to sew beautifully

  • in pattern, he made his own clothing line,

  • and he was a mentor to me.

  • We had a little meeting of three people

  • to decide what the decorations would be.

  • So I had some sketches or something

  • and this idea of making rainbow flags,

  • because at that time I was very Argyle Rainbow

  • and I did a lot of rainbows, and that was really my thing.

  • So everybody loved it, you know,

  • and I also knew how to make flags.

  • I had already made flags for a sailboat company.

  • They said, "Oh, we'll give you the reflecting pole,

  • "had rows of flag poles along it at the city hall,

  • "and then we'll give you these two big flag poles

  • "at UN Plaza.

  • "So we need two big ones,

  • "and then we need these smaller ones."

  • And they were gonna be each individual artist,

  • like "You get a flag, you get a flag, you get a flag.

  • "Here's your white flag, we've stitched them up,

  • "and now it's up to you to color this,

  • "however you want, this is your project.

  • "We need them back by this time."

  • And then the two big flag poles were like, James

  • and I were like, "Okay, let's figure out what to do."

  • Now the year before, there was a pride parade

  • in San Francisco, and some private people

  • had made little flags of their own,

  • but they weren't rainbow flags.

  • They're like a purple triangle

  • and some other, a friend of mine has a photograph

  • of the year before.

  • There's just like a couple of little things

  • that people would hold in their hands

  • as they walked, you know, or homemade banner.

  • Downstairs on the second floor is

  • where the parade committee was working.

  • Like doing like this is where the stage,

  • where is the route, where is the permits,

  • where is the Porta Potties, all the practical stuff

  • that you need if you're gonna put on a parade.

  • They were busy with that.

  • You know, the place was jamming.

  • I think we had about six weeks

  • to get it together once we decided on this

  • and got all the materials, all the fabrics, 1,000 yards

  • of white cotton muslin, and the dyes, salt, soda ash,

  • the trash cans, all that things,

  • and then we brought our sewing machines.

  • We had three sewing machines, three ironing boards,

  • three irons and all the little stuff.

  • The main three people were James, Gilbert and I,

  • but I found that once I started the dying,

  • I was so busy dying I didn't have time for sewing,

  • so someone just used my sewing machine.

  • So it's not like cut and dried, oh meeting at two.

  • I didn't even have a telephone, you know.

  • You can find me here.

  • My studio was on the second floor and we started in there.

  • We were making such a mess and there's no drains

  • in the floor there,

  • so Lee said "Why don't we do it on the roof?"

  • Because on the top of the roof of the Gay Community Center,

  • there's this water main for the firemen.

  • It just pours out cold water

  • and there's these giant drains in the roof.

  • So we brought our trash cans up there,

  • and that was off the third floor.

  • You had to go up the staircase

  • that was really like a giant ladder.

  • So we heated water up in giant canning pots

  • on the second floor, carried them up to the third floor,

  • then carried them up to the roof, dumped it

  • in the trash cans along with cold water, mixed it,

  • and then the dyes, salt, and soda ash,

  • and mixed and mixed and mixed, and then the fabric,

  • and so that's where helpers, not only

  • were they downstairs ironing fabric after it'd been dyed

  • and washed, that everything had to be ironed,

  • and helping the seamstresses, tailors.

  • And then mostly, it was Glenne, she was working with me

  • at the dye trash cans.

  • I was the first person that was running the stuff

  • to the Washamat Laundromat with quarters

  • and big giant garbage bags to wash it,

  • then they're like "Oh, you're wasting time.

  • "We need you upstairs.

  • "So here, we'll get these people to do that."

  • And it was all figuring out how many yards of this

  • because the two large ones were 40 feet by 60 feet

  • on 80-foot flag poles.

  • That's very big.

  • And they were large and when they were finished, it took

  • about three people to carry one flag.

  • The two flags had eight colors, yeah.

  • It was pink, red, orange, yellow, green, aqua blue,

  • royal blue, and violet.

  • And then mine had stars in the corner

  • to emulate the American flag,

  • and I reversed the colors on the two flags.

  • This is on purpose, so if you look carefully

  • at any photos from that day, pink is at the bottom

  • on one flag and violet at the top

  • and the other flag has it reversed.

  • We had to rig the flags, get the person with the key

  • to the flag poles, the crank to the flag poles,

  • and her truck, and six of us or eight of us get them

  • over there and then clip them and take the wire rigging

  • that goes through the end of the flag,

  • and it's clipped on both ends, and then, you know put it up,

  • and then crank, crank, crank and get it to go up the top,

  • and do the other one, the same thing.

  • Rig it and then crank, crank, crank, crank,

  • and see if they came out okay.

  • That was I think the day before.

  • So then we took it all down, went back

  • to the Gay Community Center.

  • Obviously, we were up early and we got all the flags back

  • in the truck and all went over there,

  • because we'd have to get those up

  • before the parade started, obviously, and it's a big job.

  • And so they went up and it looked great.

  • I wanted a full spectrum rainbow.

  • I wanted all the colors,

  • and for me, it meant everybody is included, everybody.

  • It's not like, "Oh, the color of skin."

  • No, everybody likes rainbows.

  • We're at the Gay Community Center

  • and there's, everybody is there.

  • I mean, you don't have to be gay to be there,

  • but you know, if you are, it's great.

  • And you know, like "Come on over."

  • And then, we had to get arranged.

  • We walked in the parade.

  • And so, and Gilbert and James and I,

  • and I guess probably all of us, and it was a great day.

  • Within a year from 1978, Gay Freedom Day,

  • to the next year, the flags were stolen.

  • The two giant flags.

  • And that was just like, and it was such a shock

  • that I couldn't believe it.

  • That was just our heartbreaker.

  • The Gay Community Center got torn down

  • and made into a parking lot.

  • AIDS epidemic was happening.

  • People are strung out on heavy drugs

  • and a lot of other bad stuff,

  • and it was just like dark, really dark.

  • It's a very sad time.

  • We all left because there was no place to be,

  • and I think it took years

  • before there was another Gay Community Center

  • in San Francisco.

  • And I continued to dye fabrics for a living.

  • Gilbert, he wanted to keep putting the flags up

  • and promoting, and so the next year,

  • he got together polyester flags, they made polyester flags.

  • He's the person that promoted it and popularized it

  • and promoted it and pounded the pavement

  • and brought out the flags for all sorts of events,

  • and there was no stars and stripes one,

  • because he didn't know how to do that.

  • So I'm really glad it came to be a big, huge symbol.

  • And Gilbert's directly responsible for doing that,

  • but I always felt like he should give James

  • and I due credit, you know.

  • Whenever I see a rainbow flag,

  • it makes me feel good, you know.

  • I was directly involved with creating that.

  • Even though the original flags were stolen

  • and then they were modified, it still means the same thing.

  • We're all included, everybody, no matter who you are,

  • what you are, it doesn't really matter,

  • and I think a rainbow, it's a symbol

  • of joy, beauty, color, light, and that's what it means to me

  • when I see rainbow flags hanging in the window

  • or flying, I'm like "Oh, yeah.

  • "There's my flag."

  • (laughs loudly)

  • (upbeat music)

- My name is Faerie Argyle Rainbow,

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我設計的原創彩虹旗 (I Designed The Original Rainbow Flag)

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    林宜悉 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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