The reality isn’t as it appears in the above image. Despite dreams and fantasies, it isn’t always possible for bare practitioners to actually transport themselves in the body and clothes freedom style. In a private airplane, perhaps but there are exceptions for every possibility. The pilot may not require garments but the airport probably does. So erase the myth that Aaron and I are travelling with our nakedness unimpeded!
In order to reach our destination, we have to comply with the law. Unfortunately, what we decide is best for the both of us but it doesn’t always please the remainder of the passengers. The ultimate goal of today’s post entry here is to travel from “Point A” (the Washington, D.C., USA, National Airport) to “Point B” (the landing facility near my mother’s house). Her home is located on the island of Skyros, Greece. This has been the paternal heritage of my family for centuries. The purpose of this trip? A long overdue visit to spend quality time with Mama and the remainder of my family – immediate and extended – in residence there.
My spouse, Aaron, and I depart later today and hopefully will safely arrive on Skyros and accomplish our mission. The visit is only for eight days of refreshing renewal Mama, my brothers and family. The “header” image (above) shows a fellow traveler seated on his luggage in a departure terminal. As both Aaron and I are ardent and loyal bare practitioners, allow me to assure everyone that we are not so totally foolish as to even attempt today’s journey in our nakedness. Admittedly, our dream may be to one day undergo the adventure in complete body and clothes freedom, we both understand that undertaking isn’t happening today!
Underway to terminal!
Also, the title of this posting is Flying High! Patience, please, and permit me to clarify the fact that neither one of us is under the influence of any mind-altering substance of any kind. If we’re unable to travel in our natural state then why bother to even think of trying to do so mentally altered?
More than likely, no one else made the assumption of us contemplating to take the trip nude. We confirm our fantasy of preferring to do so but reality doeto composes occasionally grasp our attention and influence our behaviour!
The absurdity and brevity of this topic reflects the anxious attitudes in preparation of departure. It is much easier and simpler to compose and publish humour than to even attempting present a serious idea and then fail miserably! Plus, the accompanying pictures were available and convenient!
Interracial bare practitioner couple representing us!
Additionally, this is the day after our actual ninth wedding anniversary! Another reason to celebrate with Mama and the rest of the family.
I’ll also go to the cemetery and spend time at Papa’s grave. Whenever I return to Skyros, I always include quiet time there – alone. We’ve had some convenient conversations together since he was interred there. While I’m there, this gives Aaron and Mama their “time” together, without me being around!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, August 19, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Familiar Comfort!”
Typically, most “work-week” schedules begin on Monday. Over time, Mondays have earned the unfair and unpopular designation as the “back to work” day when people sluggishly return to their job site, usually ready for another weekend immediately! Return to work is dreaded but leaving the workspace is joyful and with energy! Unfortunately, this is the regular attitude and routine for the multitude.
It doesn’t always have to be that way. Monday follows a weekend which in many cases presents a respite from the usual workday regimen. The weekends, while brief, offer an opportunity for recreational and relaxing activities that restore some mental balance and allow rejuvenation. Socialization circumstances afford many the chances of idea exchanges additional renewal experiences.
Varying stages of bare comfort!
Thus, Mondays afford a significant majority of us to return to our professional environment with new experiences, ideas and possible resources for not only enhancing our personal lives but also with suggestions for our coworkers. Instead of a mundane day to return to the work routine, Mondays can also be viewed as a day to refresh our individual and social adventures and situations.
My spouse, Aaron, and I both believe that enriching and expanding the “Monday role” in our lives adds a new dimension of both expectation and pleasure for all of us. Most of us are discreet with our personal lives in the professional setting, yet this doesn’t prevent us from sharing aspects of a novel or new-found ideal or theme that others may explore or indulge.
Picnic idea!
Encouraging information exchange helps to eradicate some issues with “mediocre Mondays” and affords us a tool to utilize to improve communication. In addition, it enables us to broaden our workplace social circle that increases the resources all of us may implement. The expanded networks this creates offers all of us unimaginable benefits and rewards.
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, August 9, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Visually Verified!”
Personally, it feels as though this summertime has only just begun. Yesterday was the official “first day of summer,” and now here we are, the month of August is already upon us! Where did the month of July disappear? It was in the future, and now it is a memory. I readily admit to being somewhat sluggish at the end of June, but I honestly didn’t foresee taking a nap that would include the entire month of July!
A dreamland pillow!
This season has been enjoyable, exciting and productive – as most summers usually are – without the usual drama that happens when the heat affects the temper levels. Perhaps one of the reasons this season has been relatively “drama-free” is due to having restful and sufficient amounts of sleep. This may be attributed to the fact that living natural pillows, on which to lay our head, are remarkably available and many bare practitioners are taking advantage! A good night’s sleep gives amazing rewards for those who indulge!
Our couples featured above illustrate the modern marvel known as living natural pillows. They’re accommodating, flexible and are accompanied by a sincere desire to please. Of course, reciprocity is expected and that merely involves taking turns providing the headrest! Everything more than that depends on the compatibility of the couple engaged in dreamland!
Beach bedding!
Not everyone has the same sense of privacy that others hold, especially during the freedom that summer provides us. Many take to napping and slumber while in the rays from the sun. Stroll along any beach, waterfront or pool deck and countless persons will be lounging and sleeping while doing so. There’s no law against it so why not enjoy it?
It is also vitally important to ascertain that all of us understand that living natural pillows entail the use of the buttocks of one person as the living natural pillow of another person. I’ll qualify one of the requirements from my personal experience. I’ve never rested my weary head on the buttocks of anyone recently deceased. I’m not sure if I could ever bring myself to relax during an exchange such as involving a close encounter with a dead person. For that reason, “living” is an essential aspect of the human pillow!
Compliance?
An equally essential component of the living natural pillow experience is the agreement, compliance and/or understanding between the involved persons as to what specifically the participation actually includes. For some, the possibility of being a pillow for another person is repugnant. They only want to be the person with their head on someone else’s buttocks! Role-playing isn’t one of their stronger features.
My spouse, Aaron, offers that for some couples, the usual aspects of alternating roles of accommodation are determined to not be applicable. This decision is based on their personal preference and mutual consent. If this is agreeable to them, then they are free to follow whatever is satisfactory.
Comfort and tranquility!
Naked hugs and enjoy your pillow: whatever style you have!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, August 5, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Marvelous Monday!”
Summertime usually brings forth in our various cultures and societies an interesting and refreshing concoction of beverages, usually with an alcoholic content, to not only quench our thirst but to enable us to relax and appreciate the festive atmosphere the season brings. In the past, I have published several recipes for summer cocktails during the month of August; this year, my spouse, Aaron, suggested publishing this feature earlier in order that as many as possible have the chance to mix and enjoy! Quite naturally (we were both bare), he made this recommendation as he was sipping on this cocktail!
The name of the beverage is: Sex On The Beach. The recipe – I’m uncertain if that’s what the “recipe” is actually labelled – was located in an internet search for “summer rum cocktails.” A possible alternative title for this post entry: A Tropical Happy Hour!
SexOnTheBeach!
11/2 ounces rum (light or dark)
1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce orange juice
1 ounce pineapple juice
1/2 ounce passionfruit syrup
Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a glass and add a lime wheel or a chunk of fresh fruit. Enjoy!
The above recipe was originally offered here on ReNude Pride under the title. That eye-catching name caught my attention. Of course, no explanation of the name was given. Also, there was no caution regarding safe sex nor urging of the responsible consumption of alcohol, especially hen operating a vehicle. I’m not able to recall the distillery that created this rum.
I do remember that the first time I tried the mixed drink, I realized the ice wasn’t necessary. I preferred my beverage at room temperature, even during the summer! Ice is cold and that fact gives me no consolation!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, July 19, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “An Unashamed Tale!”
International Skinny-Dipping Day: Saturday, July 13, 2024!
Bare Practitioner’s Day, Sunday, July 14, 2024!
Bare practitioners about to skinny-dip in the ocean!
If the weather cooperates here in the Northern Hemisphere, this weekend has the potential for a very bare extravaganza of aquatic excitement and fun! Of course, we all know that the entire hemisphere will not have the ideal conditions, but hoping for the best sometimes affords positive results! Besides, a little rain during the summer season isn’t all that disastrous! Especially when we’re all body and clothes free anyway!
A rush to skinny-dip!
International Skinny-Dipping Day, Saturday, July 13, 2024:
Skinny-dipping is a phrase originating in American English for swimming naked. The popular justification for that designation is that in the rural southern tradition, the term developed from the custom of “getting into one’s skin and taking a dip into a local body of water.” Up until the massive general recruitment into the armed forces caused by World War II, skinny-dipping was limited primarily to the southern part of the USA. The label didn’t gain widespread use in the vernacular until the war response brought young men together in defence of the country. Once the peace was restored and the military returned home did the term earn expanded comprehension.
The advancement and development of Nude Recreation Week in the 1970’s encouraged the use of that phrase in the promotion of naked swimming as part of the week-long observance of outdoor body and clothes freedom activities. Skinny-dipping was considered an event and a name that would get the general public’s attention and interest into the naturist/nudist experience.
The two sponsoring organizations of Nude Recreation Week, the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) and The Naturist Society (TNS), decided in the early years of the 21st century to alter the focus of the skinny-dipping event into an international competition in an attempt to increase the event’s ranking in the Guinness Book of Records. This strategy was intended to attract even more general interest in both the event and in promoting social nudity. One of the major objections to the additional focus on an international skinny-dipping activity has been that it diminishes the overall theme of Nude Recreation Week.
Skinny-dipping duo!
Skinny-dipping, from the earliest days, was usually always observed in natural bodies of water, such as lakes and oceans. As humanity progressed, pools were made by men for different reasons and both genders adapted to the new situation. The bare swimming experience became popular regardless of where it was located. Aquatic refreshment and relaxation remained an often-sought luxury appreciated by the multitudes! It wasn’t until mid-way through the Victorian era that the creation of swimming suits became a demand.
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Join us!
Bare Practitioner’s Day, July 14, annually!
Losing his cumbersome burden!
Bare Practitioner’s Day evolved here from World Naked Day, World Nudist Day and several other national and/or regional labels. Aaron, my spouse, and I adopted the title here in order to promote the largely misunderstood concept of same gender loving body and clothes freedom. Throughout the world, attention and emphasis is on fashion that must be purchased, little thought is offered to the fashion that is common to us all: our skin! We both believe that as our skin is completely “natural” fashion, it deserves a “special” day for celebration – all throughout the world!
The reality of Nude Recreation Week having no denoted date for happening, Aaron and I both feel that Bare Practitioner’s Day needs a date assigned that doesn’t obscure the occasion and the communities represented. Both the same gender loving and the body and clothes freedom persons have earned their own day of celebration and remembrance!
Proud teen bare practitioners!
There are two specific reasons that we both believe justify having a day for bare practitioner recognition. First and foremost is the fact that across much of the globe, same gender loving persons face discrimination and prejudice simply for being themselves. It may not be as prevalent as it once was, but it continues even today. Having a time for being ourselves enables us, as a community and as a culture, to remind all others that we are here and have earned the freedom to be us!
Secondly, even among the naturist/nudist people, bias and marginalization remains against our kind. Therefore, we reserve the right to help prepare for a better and equal acceptance for those who are just now entering into our lifestyle. History doesn’t need to be repeated forever! Our delight and enjoyment of our nakedness isn’t based solely on our sexuality!
As bare practitioners ourselves, Aaron and I both appreciate and comprehend the importance of promoting the benefits, joy and rewards of the ability to enhance and participate in our lifestyle with others who feel the same! Camaraderie offers us the opportunity to meet and learn from others and to both share and socialize!
Stepping into his bare practitioner identity!
Everyone is encouraged to take full advantage of our seasonal weather and have a fun and productive July weekend! Take care and enjoy being bare!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, July 15, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Bare Beverages!”
10th Anniversary, Stonewall Inn Riots, 1979: “Taking A Break”
Stonewall Inn Riots: Legacy!
The actual date, 28 June, 1969, may not be etched mentally for everyone, but for a majority of GLBTQ+ community and culture, the familiar phrase, Stonewall Inn Riots (SIR), instantly beats the drum and blows the trumpet! The early hours of this morning heralded the commencement of the movement that initiated the struggle to end bias, condemnation, marginalization and oppression. It began the attainment of the goals of equality, fairness, freedom and respect deserving of all peoples, no matter where they live! Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer+ (GLBTQ+) rights are human rights progress inaugurated!
The rioting that followed the planned raid on the unlicensed Stonewall Inn bar, catering almost exclusively to a “homosexual” (derogatory designation for same gender loving persons) customer base, erupted into a totally unexpected riot against police brutality and harassment. The law enforcers were completely unprepared for this reaction and were overwhelmed by the results. The “homosexual” community was always considered docile and effeminate, not capable of any type of masculine action!
Contemporary Stonewall Inn Historic Site!
The Stonewall National Monument is a fairly new national park unit located in Christopher Park in New York City’s lower Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village. It is the very first U.S. national monument dedicated to GLBTQ+ rights and history; indeed, to the entire community and culture. Then-President Barack Obama designated it as a national monument on June 24, 2016!
The Stonewall Inn, 1969
“Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights. I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country, the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us. That we are stronger together. Out of many, we are one.” ~ President Barack Obama ~ Dedication of Stonewall National Monument ~ 24 June, 2016
“There was no gay pride before Stonewall. Only gay fear and gay isolation and gay distrust and gay self-hatred.” ~ Edmund White ~ Stonewall Inn patron and gay author
“The police weren’t letting us dance. If there’s one place in the world where you can dance and feel yourself fully as a person and that’s threatened with being taken away, those words are fighting words.” ~ Tommy Lanigen-Schmidt ~ Stonewall Inn patron and riot participant
“You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protestors and it was a good sound. It was a real good sound that, you know, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you.” ~ Raymond Castro ~ Stonewall Inn patron who was detained inside the bar during the riot
The Stonewall Inn Riots (SIR), 1969
In 1966, the Stonewall Inn Restaurant, which had been in business at that location since the 1950s, closed for remodeling following a fire that had devastated the restaurant. The restaurant re-opened as a commercial tavern (bar) on 18 March, 1967, under the ownership of the Genovese Mafia family. The tavern was in business illegally (no license to serve liquor) and one officer of the New York Police Department was accepting monthly bribe payments allowing the business to operate. The targeted consumer base for the tavern were “homosexuals.”
On Friday evening, 27 June, 1969, the police held a raid upon the Stonewall Inn tavern for two specific violations, operating a “homosexual” related business and for selling alcohol without a license. The customers, by now angry over repeated harassment, rioted against the police. The protesters soon numbered in the thousands and marked the first time any law enforcement received any defiance and/or resistance from the “homosexual” population. This represented the same gender loving (SGL) community organizing against oppression and the police were bewildered and clueless.
No one in the New York Police Department had anticipated the “homosexuals,” always believed to be meek and mild, to fight back. The years of abuse, oppression and ridicule had taken its toll, and the frustration now became revolution and the time for retribution was at hand. Unfortunately for the police, the pent-up anger with law enforcement was now being released and returned in kind. The police who initiated the raid were now isolated prisoners inside the Stonewall Inn.
The early morning hours of 28 June, 1969, became history. The discrimination against people who loved their own gender soon faded away to be replaced by the movement for gay power, gay equality and gay rights. This, in turn, became known as the GLBTQ+ movement (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer+). The journey was not easy, peaceful nor was it bloodless. However, the journey itself was historic. Unfortunately, the history remains to be completed, even into now, the 21st Century!
Christopher Park GLBTQ+ statues!
In the 1970s, a local volunteer group, the Friends of Christopher Park, was organized in order to oversee the park’s maintenance and upkeep. In 1983, the New York City Parks agency began a three-year project to restore the park to its original condition under the guidance of Phil Winslow.
In 1992, the “Gay Liberation” statue by George Segal was placed in Christopher Park. The statue consists of four figures (two standing men, two seated women) in natural and neutral poses. The park also has two other statues both related to the civil war that were created in 1936. In 2023, a move to remove the statue of General Phil Sheridan because he had led a massacre of Indigenous (Native American) people.
On 29 June, 1999, the Stonewall Inn building, Christopher Park and nearby streets were recognized as official by the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The same area was declared a National Historic Landmark on February 16, 2000.
The statues, decorated in celebration!
On 23 June, 2015, the City of New York determined the Stonewall Inn to be an official City landmark. This inspired the other Greenwich Village residents to pursue both The Stonewall Inn and the Christopher Park to be labeled a national monument. This happened when then-President Barack Obama officially determined the Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park as national monuments on 24 June, 2016.
Welcome to all!
Our history and our story are still ongoing. To those who are planning to visit New York city, a visit to this national monument is highly recommended in order to help define and perpetuate our community and culture!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Sunday, June 30, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Bottoms-Up! Pride Month, 2024!”
The glorious season of Summer deserves exceptional recognition for being the primary time of the year where an overwhelming majority of us bare practitioners relish in the almost unlimited freedom of our nakedness and our same gender loving status. ReNude Pride’s celebrity spokes-model, Phoenix Fellington, once again takes the featured role in demonstrating his acknowledged fondness for and preference for his unofficial official designation as our bare practitioner’sbarepractitioner! Confused? Don’t be! He’s hereto honoured as our bare beach soul – and not based exclusively because of his race. He’s my “soul” because he boldly and proudly poses all around without a thread of concealment over his body!
Whether he’s playing in the sand (view above) or being honoured in the foliage of the forest, his oft quoted remark, I love being naked, outside, in nature! is the summary of us nakednessenthusiasts no matter where we live or our skin colour! A man’s man and entertainer combined into one for us all to emulate!
Phoenix Fellington, the bare tree!
Phoenix, a former U.S. Marine, has the strength and, most importantly, the physique, to support a tree unaided by it’s natural trunk! And believe me, this is one active same gender loving (gay) porn-star who has the body to prove that fact!
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Juneteenth Celebration vigil!
Juneteenth Holiday!
The official name for this occasion is the Juneteenth National Independence Day and it is a national holiday in the USA. It is celebrated annually here on June 19, commemorating the official and formal emancipation from slavery in the USA. The name for this most recent holiday is a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth” because it was on the date of June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in all of Texas at the end of the American Civil War.
The initial celebrations of this event began in 1866, originating in church sponsored community gatherings in Texas and throughout the south among liberated slaves often featuring a community food festival. With the Great Migration of African-Americans (descendants of slaves), these observances quickly spread throughout the country.
The day was recognized as a federal (national) holiday in 2021, when President Joseph Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. It was first observed as a federal holiday that same year. The protocol is in place when this holiday falls on a Saturday, the Friday before is the date of the observance. If the date is a Sunday, then the following Monday is the official holiday.
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Phoenix Fellington, picnic table invitational!
Summer Commences!
For this year, Summer, 2024, officially comes into existence on Thursday, June 20, 2024, at 4:51 p.m., (local time). The fun begins and lasts until September 22! For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, if you haven’t already done so, make the seasonal adjustments necessary to ensure a happy, safe and successful summertime of family, friends and fun!
This year is one of the times when the equinox doesn’t occur on the traditional date of June 21. However, June 21, 2024, does mark the first official full day of 2024’s summertime. Extra time for fun and play!
Summer splash!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, June 21, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Strip2Dip: Summer, 2024!”
Body painting is an amazing and awesome tool to demonstrate the confidence and pride we as bare practitioners have in ourselves and in our bodies! It is also an ideal way to communicate with others the messages we wish to convey. Above, a World Naked Bike Rider has body-painted his same gender love status onto his chest as he boldly travels the streets of London, United Kingdom! He chose the Progress Pride flag design as the visual to share this with others!
The back and buttocks shown here feature a bold streak in the colours of the Rainbow Pride flag with his bare friend! This rainbow pattern was the emblem of the GLBTQ+ culture from 1978-2018.
A clear and concise message that the human body deserves no fear from any of us! In demonstrating his fearlessness, our messenger also shows us his bare pride!
Let’s make our bare practitioner status legal everywhere! A political and social message we can all promote! Modeling his politics, our man above also uses exceptional penmanship!
Heart-shaped hands!
His heart-shaped hands and welcoming smile deliver his message visually along with his bare confident body: he loves his nakedness! As bare practitioners, so do we!
Soliciting!
The message on this body is colourful as well as explicit! He invites all of us to celebrate his nakedness and provide him with a kiss. A very deliberate way to join in the thrill of being clothes free while in good company!
Natural in nature!
The beauty of our natural surroundings enhanced by our very own natural physical being often encourages the experiencing of the happiness of being a bare practitioner!
Tattoos!
The current popularity of tattoos enables people to become creative in having them decorating their bodies. Our example above includes him having “unashamed” tattooed above his pubic hairline. Obviously, his being seen nude is no shameful act for him!
Pride tattoo!
Having the notification of pride tattooed at the base of his neck leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind as to his feelings of his nakedness and his sexuality!
Sound advice for us all!
Words of wisdom from bare practitioners!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Friday, June 7, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Pride 2024: Why?”
The gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer+ (GLBTQ+) community and culture in the USA observes the month of June, annually, as its traditional Pride Month. An entire month to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Inn riots that initiated the modern, ongoing GLBTQ+ equality movement within this country and to celebrate all of us simply for being us: what and who we naturally are! There are only thirty days in the month of June, so let’s get the festivities underway now!
The idea or the notion of “pride” represents a variety of connotations and/or definitions that overlap and vary from person to person. It doesn’t often mean the same belief or concept to every individual all of the time. The importance and value that we place on pride does change throughout the course of our lifetime. This fluctuation is beneficial and good as it encourages us to keep abreast of current affairs, events and trends. Understanding the what and the who we are empowers us to be accepting and inclusive.
The Progress banner of our GLBTQ+ community!
Pride is real:
Pride is a noun that references a positive emotion or feeling meaning a sense of one’s own proper dignity and/or value; self-respect; pleasure or satisfaction taken in one’s work, achievements or possessions. It also denotes self-esteem.
Pride also has a negative connotation as an excessively high opinion of oneself; arrogance and/or conceit. The consideration or personification of this condition or the first of the proverbial seven cardinal sins.
The Progress Flag raised in Nottingham!
“The Progress Flag:”
The current GLBTQ+ international community banner.
The Progress flag was designed and developed by non-binary (outside of the gender binary: female or male) artist Daniel Quasar in 2018. Based on Gilbert Baker’s original 1978 Rainbow Pride flag, Quasar’s redesign was unfurled 40 years later celebrating the expanding and still growing diversity of the global GLBTQ+ community and culture and at the same time encouraging a more inclusive general society. The redesign has increased the overall representation of discriminated minority identities covered under the GLBTQ+ umbrella.
Quasar’s creation includes the original six stripes flag made by Gilbert Baker and his volunteers, all with the incorporation of the colours of the natural rainbow and the ideals they symbolize. Quasar has added an arrow to the left of the Rainbow Pride that is pointing to the right. This arrow includes both black and brown stripes (representing peoples of colour) and light blue, pink and white stripes (representing transgender and non-binary persons).
Gilbert Baker’s original Rainbow Pride flag and what the colours mean!
In Daniel Quasar’s description “…the arrow points to the right in order to show forward movement and illustrates that progress towards inclusivity still needs to be made.” The black stripe has a double meaning as it is also intended for “those living with HIV/AIDS and the stigma and prejudice surrounding them and all those who have been lost to the disease.”
The Progress flag was an immediate success. On the evening of 6 June, 2018, he posted the flag on social media and woke up the next day to find that globally it had gone viral!
Personal observations:
Both Aaron, my spouse, and I remain grateful and impressed by Gilbert Baker’s original RainbowPride flag and the work of his friends and volunteers: Lynn Segerblum, James McNamara, Glenne McElhinney, Joe Duran and Paul Langlotz. Their efforts will retain their work in the archive and hearts of our global GLBTQ+ community and culture.
We also appreciate and are equally impressed with Daniel Quasar’s incorporation of the colourful and historic Rainbow Pride flag in his affirmative and inclusive design of the Progress flag. Forty years after the Rainbow Pride design first appeared, Daniel Quasar publicly credited and preserved the Rainbow’s basic intent as we continue to strive towards equality and inclusion!
Aaron and I commend and salute Gilbert Baker and his friends and Daniel Quasar for their remarkable achievement in the honouring of our GLBTQ+ community and culture!
Covered by the original Rainbow Pride flag!
Awareness:
Our pride events, fairs, festivals and related celebrations not only bring many of us together as a community and culture, it also affords us an occasion to renew with acquaintances and long-lost friends. It helps us to remain connected with those we otherwise would remain estranged for a very lengthy period of time. It reminds us of our common and shared experiences that have enabled us to become exactly the person that we are currently.
It also enables us to explore the many opportunities that evolve in our shared environment. As the individuals within our community and culture expand and grow, we all benefit from remaining current and focused on the challenges and the needs of our peers and the changing world in which we live.
Since the Stonewall Inn riots (SIR) in the early morning hours of 28 June, 1969, we, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer+ people have energized, galvanized and organized a vibrant global movement for change, enhancement and equality that continues on, even today. Our efforts have produced drastic results in some areas, minor adjustments in other areas and minimal (if any) difference in yet other areas. However, our struggle remains alive and underway as even a small change helps to generate and inspire hope for success in our future!
A recommendation:
A challenge for everyone: this year, invite an acquaintance to attend a pride-related event with you this year. This is a non-threatening opportunity for all of us give to someone an understanding on the importance of our community and culture within today’s world. It also enhances the life of your acquaintance as they can see the similarity between our lives and their own.
Best wishes for a very happy and productive pride month, 2024 to everyone!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, June 3, 2024, and the proposed topic is: “Bare Pride, 2024!”
ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers! 