Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements
One symbol which continues to remain popular is the lower case
Greek letter lambda. The symbol was originally chosen by the Gay
Activists Alliance of New York in 1970. The GAA was a group
which broke away from the larger Gay Liberation Front at the end
of 1969, only six months after it's foundation in response to
the Stonewall Riots. While the GLF wanted to work side by side
with the black and women's liberation movements to gain unity
and acceptance, the GAA wanted to focus their efforts more
concisely on only Gay and Lesbian issues. Because of its
official adoption by the GAA, which sponsored public events for
the gay community, the lambda soon became a quick way for the
members of the gay community to identify each other. The
reasoning was that the lambda would easily be mistaken for a
college fraternity symbol and ignored by the majority of the
population. Eventually though, the GAA headquarters was torched
by an arsonist, destroying not onl