Written by: Kara Kundert
Some of you may have noticed a slight design shift in the Bluegrass Pride imagery in the past couple of months. Since our inception last January, our profile picture has always been a pride flag with a banjo overlaid – a simple visualization of our core mission to forge a connection between the LGBT and bluegrass communities.
Lately, there have been a couple of extra stripes featured in the flag we use: one brown and one black, at the top of the flag. These stripes were originally adopted by the City of Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs for their More Color More Pride campaign, as a way of recognizing the contributions of people of color in the LGBT community.
We in bluegrass have also often benefited from the contributions of people of color, in ways that are often overlooked or erased in our history. As was discussed at last year’s IBMA World of Bluegrass keynote speech, our music is truly a creole tradition, combining many elements of many culture’s traditions. So when we heard about the More Color More Pride campaign, we thought it was a perfect way for us at Bluegrass Pride to both honor those contributions and stake out new ground for a future of bluegrass with greater diversity. It may just be a symbol, a simple gesture, but it’s the starting place for us to change bluegrass from within.
To learn more, watch this great video about the More Color More Pride campaign: