I don’t mean to bring the mood down but…………
The world is a slightly gloomier place today – Rest in Peace Amy Bleuel and Gilbert Baker.
Amy Bleuel was the founder of Project Semicolon. Founded in 2013, it’s a global crusade designed to bring hope and love to those struggling with depression, suicide, addiction, and self-injury. As someone, like many people reading this, that has had their lives contaminated by mental illness, I will openly confess to shedding a tear at the passing of this extraordinary woman.
Amy lived in Wisconsin. At the age of six, after her parents divorced, Bleuel chose to live with her father and his second wife. Amy then endured being physically and psychologically abused by her stepmother. At the age of eight, she was taken into state custody by the child protection service.
Moving from one hell to another, Amy said that she started self-harming after she had been sexually abused at the age of ten, the suicide attempts started after she was raped at the age of thirteen. When Amy was eighteen years old, her father committed suicide. In her early years at college, Amy was raped a further two times and subsequently suffered a miscarriage. By the age of thirty Amy was an alcoholic and had already seriously attempted suicide on five separate occasions.
Through all this she found the strength to bring global attention to mental health issues and the demons that caused it. A simple tweet in 2013 changed the lives of countless people;
;
On April 16th 2013 everyone who
self-harms, is suicidal, depressed,
has anxiety, is unhappy, going
through a broken heart, just lost
a loved one, etc. draw a semicolon
on your wrist.
A semicolon represents a sentence
the author could have ended, but chose
not to.
The author is you and the sentence
is your life.
For me Amy is a beacon of inspiration, someone that has saved countless lives by sharing her stories and letting people know they are not alone even in their darkest hours, someone that has brought light and understanding to thousands of people, someone that has made our world a more understanding and tolerant place, someone with a passion to make a difference the determination and resilience to go out and do it!
Gilbert Baker was an openly gay American artist and civil rights activist who designed the rainbow flag back in 1978. Baker's flag is now synonymous with the LGBT community, a symbol of pride that has become ubiquitous in the decades since its inception.
Gilbert was born on June 2, 1951 in Chanute, Kansas. He served in the United States Army from 1970 to 1972 and was stationed in San Francisco at the beginning of the gay rights movement. After an exemplary military career, he received an honourable discharge and taught himself to sew. He used his skill to create banners for gay-rights and anti-war protest marches. He first created the Rainbow Flag in 1978.
In 1994, Baker moved to New York City, where he continued his creative work and activism. That year he created the world's largest flag (at that time) in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
In 2003, for the 25th anniversary of the flag’s design, he broke another world’s record when he created a flag that spanned from sea to sea — from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean in Key West!
Due to his creation of the rainbow flag, Gilbert often used the drag queen name "Busty Ross"
It wasn’t until quite recently I found out that each of the eight colours in the flag represent a different aspect of humanity;
Hot Pink - sexuality
Red - life
Orange - healing
Yellow - sunlight
Green - nature
Turquoise - magic/art
Blue - serenity/harmony
Violet – spirit
The rainbow flag was a response to the homophobic pink triangle. Like Nazis who used the Star of David to target Jewish people, anti-gay persecutors used the pink triangle to mark those who were openly or presumed gay. "They had a whole code of emblems that they used to oppress people, and we needed something to answer that," said Gilbert, adding that the rainbow was perfect because of its associations with diversity, beauty and nature.
Whilst a symbol of hope, tolerance and understanding in most of the world, the flag is still seen as divisive in many countries. Gilbert saluted Russian activists who dared to wave the flag despite the country's anti-gay laws. He was proud of the fact that waving the flag is still a provocative, defiant act in many places.
"It's not quite the same thing as walking down the street in your rainbow drag gown in some great Pride parade in San Francisco or New York. In much of the world, the flag is still as politically charged as it was 37 years ago in San Francisco. That's what flags are for. Flags are about proclaiming power ... that visibility is key to our success and to our justice.”
As with Amy, Gilbert Baker is a beacon of inspiration, someone that had the courage and conviction to stand up and challenge the belligerent bullies who wanted to destroy something beautiful – a way of life, of living. As an artist, he was loved and admired by many famous and influential people across the globe including Barak Obama and King Juan Carlos I of Spain but for the LGBT community he will remain a guiding light towards acceptance, power, understanding and pride!
Some painful days take Heroes away from us. This week we have lost two people, two wonderful human beings that through symbols have become symbols in their own right, symbols that have changed the world! Rest in glorious peace, Amy and Gilbert and know that you have made a difference in this world. Your legacies will live on as will the light you brought into the world – I remain humbled by your love and courage.
No pictures today, it just seemed a little inappropriate, I will however leave you with a song that, according to her Facebook page, lifted Amy away from her demons for just a few minutes;