You Are Welcome Here.
Besides Traditional Bluegrass, Community, Inclusivity, and Courage are the foundation of our values as an organization. We envision creating a cultural shift for all individuals seeking to join our community. Bottom line, we are here for you. Join us on your bluegrass journey, no matter your identity. In this community, we are all Handsome Ladies.
Our Vision
The Handsome Ladies strives to create a cultural shift in the bluegrass community in which more women participate in and feel welcomed at bluegrass jams, and where women feel empowered to rise to their desired level of musicianship.
How Does One Say "Howdy"?
In trying to communicate our inclusive position, we decided to make our stance apparent on our homepage. This touch point is easily the first place people go looking to learn more about The Handsome Ladies. Instead of it being left to wonder, why not clearly state our positioning just as we transparently tout our Mission, Vision, and Values? If our board members can't be the first to welcome you, at least our website can attempt to do the same.
In researching LGBTQ+ symbolism, I went searching for a way to display our alliance, acceptance, and welcoming message to anyone who identifies as a woman or desires to join our community. I wasn't able to find something that I felt communicated exactly what I was looking for, but did learn a lot about LGBTQ+ symbolism along the way. I also educated myself further with other important terms and pronouns. I hope that I have become more aware, humble, and sensitive in this process.
Left feeling unsure of how to proceed, I decided to create a unique symbol that would draw from a blend of established representations. I did this with the utmost respect for those who identify as LGBTQ+ (or any form thereof), with modest observance of my ignorance of the realities, a heart filled with good intention, and open arms.
Here is What I have Learned and What I Drew Inspiration From
LGBT Pride Flag
It's iconic. Just about everyone knows, or think they know, what or who it represents. The The Rainbow Flag is a long-standing symbol for LGBT community, created by Gilbert Baker, who passed away earlier this year. The original rainbow flag flew in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. This first version had a band of hot pink on the top, above the red band, and also a turquoise band, but were later removed.
Did you know that the colors themselves represent individual concepts/ideals?
Red = Life
Orange = Healing
Yellow = Sunlight
Green = Nature
Blue = Harmony & Peace
Purple = Spirit
Straight Ally Symbolism
I adopted the Λ (lambda) form from part of the symbolism for straight allies. The lambda is a Greek letter, which stands for liberation, represents unity, energy, and light shining into the darkness of ignorance. How beautiful is that!? It has a full Wikipedia page dedicated to it's extensive symbolism and meanings throughout science and history. The lowercase lambda was adopted by Gay Activists Alliance of New York in 1970. It was a way do identify fellow activists and blend in undisturbed in a hostile community as it could be mistaken for a college fraternity symbol.
I decided to remove the black and white stripes which represent the CIS gender/straight community. I felt we did not need to make any nod that "we" were, or were not, straight. It's not about telling anyone who we may or may not be, but showing our acceptance of and being allies for the marginalized.
Throughout history, many symbols have been used to identify homosexual men and women. As you can imagine, these identifiers were not used with good intentions. There has been much work done to reclaim once derogatory symbols and terms. The LGBTQ+ community has adapted them to use as their own.
Transgender Flag
The Transgender Pride Flag was created by American trans woman Monica Helms in 1999 and was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix in 2000.
Here is her logic in her design:
"The stripes at the top and bottom are light blue, the traditional color for baby boys. The stripes next to them are pink, the traditional color for baby girls. The stripe in the middle is white, for those who are intersex, transitioning or consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives”
In my new design, I altered the colors to more reflect the pastel quality of colors found in the Transgender Pride flag.
Just a little bit more...
With a great suggestion from someone much smarter than I (i.e. Kara Kundert, who is also killing it with all things Bluegrass Pride related) and in alignment with the original band of pink on the first pride flag, I revised my initial design to add a pink band prominently on top. Really, the icing on the cake. With all colors in place, horizontal bars were turned into a smooth gradient, changing the hard division into a soft, fluid progression through the spectrum. One where we are all welcome to reside and to take space where we see fit.
Here is the final outcome applied to our logo:
A small, but meaningful symbol, and important stance, to all of us who run this organization.
So, did you notice the symbol and wonder what it was about? What do you think of it? I welcome you to join in the conversation here in the comments!
**The Handsome Ladies is for all Ladies. If you see us using the capitalized form of Ladies, this is also an intentional choice. We are choosing to use the term as an inclusionary proper noun, meaning to be a member of The Handsome Ladies collective, and not as a singular or specific gender identity.
Now, LET'S PICK!