Pride Month is fast approaching. We are lucky to live in a world where it is more acceptable than ever to be who you are and what you want to be. Pride Month is all about people coming together in love and in friendship, to show how far human rights have come (even if there is still a way to go in some places). Pride Month is about teaching tolerance, educating and moving forward with equality.
One approach here is to teach children the history of the Rainbow Flag, which is a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community. The original flag was devised by Gilbert Baker, though has undergone several revisions since it first debuted in 1979. The first flag had eight colours, however, most people will recognise it now with six. However, in 2018 a version of the flag was created by Estêvão Romane which presented the original eight stripe flag with a white stripe in the middle, representing all colours (human diversity in terms of religion, gender, sex preferences, ethnicities), and peace and union among all.
But what do the colours represent and how can we use them?
Red – life
Orange – healing
Yellow – sunlight
Green – nature
Royal blue (an amalgamation of the original turquoise and indigo) – magic, art and serenity
Violet – spirit
I hope that you can already see the presence of the outdoors within it. But, to help explore each of these can we use a scavenger hunt and use the finds to elicit a discussion. This can then expand to talking about why we still need Pride Month.
Younger Years
Can they find the colours in nature and understand that they match the flag
Older Children
This is a simple lesson starter which then can progress to in-depth discussions about why the flag was needed and can link back to Stonewall and through to the present day and why it is still important. The nature of the discussion and depth will vary depending on your class and setting.
Resource – Scavenger Hunt