21st A/S Banner Contest: Results Announcement

Hello everyone!

We are back with the results for 21st Avatar and Signatures Shop Banner Contest, Pride Month Celebration!

We thank all the participants for sending such beautiful banners. Thanks to all the voters for showering their votes on the banners they loved.

Now, without further ado, let's proceed with the results.

Results

The Runner up banner is

Entry #8

by Sevenstreaks

Congratulations Sevenstreaks!

Please accept this siggy as a token of appreciation.

And the Winning banner is

Entry #1

by Katelyn

Congratulations Katelyn!

Please accept this siggy as a token of appreciation!

Thank you oh_nakhrewaali for the stunning siggies.

That's all for now! Until next time!

Tags, divider: Koeli

Siggies: oh_nakhrewaali

Congratulations Sandy and Katelyn! 🤗

Katelyn, please PM me your copyrighted banner so that it can be updated in the forum.

Appy, please give Katelyn the title for A/S BC winner in her yellow strip.

Thanks in advance! :)

Congratulations to the Winner and Runner-up! Your banners were really pretty .

The winning siggies are sooo cute. Wonderful conceptualization .

Both the banners are lovely I missed the voting I like both the winners banners most

Congratulations Sandy and Katelyn

Making the Banner was a real eye-opener for me and I discovered a lot of historical moments important to LGBTQ+ community. So here's a lil info dump :

Flags (from Left to Right)

1. Lesbian flag
2. Aroace flag
3. Pansexual flag
4. Pangender flag
5. Intersex flag
6. Original 8 strip Rainbow flag
7. 7 strip flag because of unavailability of pink fabric
8. 6 strip flag with Indigo and Blue mixed to make a single Royal blue strip
9. Progress pride flag
10. Aromantic flag
11. Agender flag
12. Transgender flag
13. Genderqueer flag
14. Asexual flag

Symbols (from Left to Right)

1. Rose - called bara in Japanese, it is roughly equivalent to "Pansy" in English. Used as a pejorative for MSM, it was later appropriated by gay media as their symbol. Links to Greek myth are also indicated for the usage of rose to denote gay men.
2. Labrys - a lesbian feminist symbol representing strength and self-sufficiency
3. Red bowtie - red accessories like bowtie / necktie were used by gay men in the 20th century to indicate their sexuality in a subtle way and identify other members of their community
4. Red lipstick kiss - used as a slang for lesbian with prominently feminine behavior. It's usage has been controversial but it is still popularly associated with feminine characteristics in WSW.
5. Pink and Blue Chameleon - represents gender fluidity
6. Double crescent moon - new symbol of bisexuality after some protested the usage of Biangles (bcz of Pink triangle being used as a symbol during Nazi regime to persecute homosexuals)
7. Pink triangle in green circle - represents straightally. The pink triangle was originally used to identify male homosexuals, male bisexuals, and transgender women in Nazi concentration camps but was later reclaimed by gay men as a symbol of personal pride and remembrance. Green circle is to represent safe zone, a space free from homophobia
8. Lambda - symbol for gay liberation. It was taken from the usase of the greek alphabet lambda in chemistry and physics to represent the moment in time witnessing absolute activity and a complete exchange of energy.
9. Pansy - used as derogatory term for gay men in 20th century, it was later used to denote gay-friendly bars and drag clubs. It has been reclaimed by gay community as a term of endearment.
10. Unicorn - used a pride symbol because of their association with rainbows
11. Rainbow - comes from the usage of the rainbow pride flag to represent diversity of the LGBT community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender through colors.
12. Love is love - phrase meaning that the love expressed by an individual or couple is valid regardless of the sexual orientation, gender identity, race, caste or religion of their lover or partner. It represents a movement of unity.
13. Raised fist - represents unity and support as well as defiance and resistance.
14. Gaysper - LGBT symbol based on the ghost emoji. Other versions including colors from the transgender flag or the bisexual flag are also popular.
15. Green carnation - gay author Oscar Wilde often wore Green Carnation on his lapel as green color showed homosexual affiliation in 19th centure England.
16. Sweet flag plant - American poet Walt Whitman used it to represent homoerotic male love due to its phallic connotations
17. Biangles - represent bisexuality. Pink triangle appropriated from Nazi concentration camps where they were used to represent homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders. Blue was used as a contrast to represent heterosexualilty and the overlap forming Lavender is indicative of queerness of bisexuality.
18. Arrow - the word is a homophone of "aro" meaning Aromantic. The aromantic flag colors have been added in the symbol.
19. Blåhaj - IKEA plush toy shark associated with LGBT culture, especially transgenders due to having colors similar to the transgender flag.
20. Lavender Rhinoceros - symbol for a public ad campaign to increase visibility for gay people. Use of lavender color for LGBT goes way back because of it being a mix of Blue and Pink, thus representing a merger of masculine and feminine. The Rhinoceros was chosen as the designers felt it was a maligned and misunderstood animal.
21. Purple hand - A protest in San Francisco, 1969 against the increasing number of news articles against the LGBTQ+ people became tumultuous when employees of Examiner started to dump bags of ink from the third storey window onto the raging crowd. Instead of stopping, the protesters used the ink thrown at them to print purple hands on the walls of the building and scrawl “Gay Power”. Since then, the purple hand has become a symbol of gay resistance and identity.
22. Lavenders - use of color Lavender as a mix of Blue and Pink to represent merger of masculine and feminine has lead to the flowers being used in a similar connotation in LGBTQ+ community.
23. Violet - one of the oldest queer symbol, its origin dates from 6th century BCE, when poet Sappho living on the Greek island of Lesbos used violet garlands, wreaths or diadems extensively in her writings which described the delicate beauty of women in passionate words. Although very little of her poetry survived, she is celebrated as a predecessor to lesbian artists with her name and nationality being linked to women who love women ("sapphic" and "lesbian" from Sappho and Lesbos) and violets becoming a symbol of lesbian love.

That's all for today folks . Thanks to the organizers for giving me this opportunity to increase my knowledge . I hope this post helps create more awareness about the struggles the LGBTQ+ community has faced in the past, and help us empathize and support them better .

Love,

Stuti

Sources :

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_flag
2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_symbols
3. https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/plants-LGBTQ-symbols
4. https://symbolsage.com/lgbtq-symbols-and-their-meaning/

Congrats Katelyn

Amazing Banner

Thank you everyone who Voted for my entries

#4 and # 8 are my entries

Thank you DT for organizing Banner Contest

I hardly participate in BC these days . This was exception

Enjoyed making it after a long time as usual made it in d eleventh hour though

Lovely siggy @ Shibu

I got so many siggies recently . Will compile and use it soon 😃

Congratulations Sandy! Glad you participated in this BC 🤗

Thanks for sending the copyrighted banner, Katelyn. 🤗

The new banner has been updated in the forum.

Congratulations to you too, @sevenstreaks

Love your vibrant banner!!

Thanks to the DT (Tia, Appy and @oh_nakhrewaali) for organizing this banner contest. Also thanks to those who took the time to vote.

The winning siggies are awesome and cute!!

Appy, your tags are beautiful!

I enjoyed making these banners. Mine are #1, #6 and #11.