Violets have long held symbolic meaning in the LGBTQ community. Their usage as a symbol dates back to the early 20th century, when the flower was used as a secret way for LGBTQ people to communicate their identity and find community in an era when same-sex relationships were illegal. Over the past century, violets have taken on additional meanings and connotations within LGBTQ culture. Their colorful beauty and resilient nature has led them to be embraced as an uplifting representation of queer identity, love, and pride.
Origins of the Violet as an LGBTQ Symbol
The violet’s history as an LGBTQ emblem began in the early 1900s. At the time, same-sex relationships were outlawed and severely stigmatized in most Western nations. LGBTQ people had to keep their identities carefully hidden to avoid persecution. Within this hostile climate, violets became a way for queer people to covertly communicate their sexuality and find each other.
This usage derived from the poetry of Sappho, a female Ancient Greek poet from the island of Lesbos whose erotic works centered on love between women. Sappho frequently referenced violets in her fragmentary verses, using them as symbols for Sapphic desire between women. By the 1900s, lines like “Violets in the crush of girls” had taken on new meaning, and “lesbian” began to be used as a term identifying female homosexuality.
Building off Sappho’s floral imagery, LGBTQ people adopted violets as a means of secret identification. Wearing violet flowers or gifts of violets and violet-colored items could signal that one was queer or looking to connect with the underground LGBTQ community. This allowed queer people to find and support each other at a time when no open resources existed.
Growth of the Violet Symbol in the 20th Century
As LGBTQ culture established itself further in the following decades, the violet became woven into many aspects of queer coding, symbols, and rituals.
Violet and lavender became staple colors within the visual iconography used by the community. Along with pink and green, they became standard colors on the rainbow LGBTQ pride flag designed by artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. Lavender also became closely associated with gay men and came to represent homosexuality in media censorship regulations.
Beyond their color, violets had additional symbolic connotations of faithfulness and devotion that resonated within same-sex relationships. Their link to Sappho added meaning around female empowerment and romantic bonds between women. Lesbian and feminist poet Judy Grahn wrote extensively about violets’ “woman-identified” significance in her works.
Violets became a frequent romantic gift between LGBTQ lovers and their presence at dinners or parties signaled that queer people would be welcome. Over time, the flower took on associations with nostalgia for the early covert days of LGBTQ community building. Violet jewelry, artwork, and tattoos became popular decorative expressions of one’s identity or commemoration of lost loved ones.
Violets in the Modern LGBTQ Rights Movement
Even after the gay rights movement brought LGBTQ relationships into open visibility in the late 1900s, violets retained their historic symbolism. They are still frequently used in queer culture today to invoke a sense of shared roots and communicate identity.
Violets often appear in media works exploring LGBTQ experiences and relationships. Depictions of violets and lavender are woven through the iconic lesbian book and film The Price of Salt/Carol. Indie singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, one of the first openly gay mainstream musicians, named her breakthrough album Yes I Am after a line from a Sapphic violet poem.
The flower is also still used in LGBTQ political activism. Violet flowers were woven into displays at vigils for victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. During Pride Month celebrations each June, many queer people continue to borrow from historic codes by wearing violet colors or gifting blooms as a meaningful part of LGBTQ rituals and remembrance.
Varied Meanings of Violets
Within modern queer culture, violets hold a flexible array of positive meanings that speak to many facets of LGBTQ identity and experiences. Their diverse symbolism includes:
Faithfulness – Violets represent enduring devotion and loyalty in romantic relationships. Their commitment to continually blossoming every spring despite the winter cold mirrors dedications to love regardless of external hardships.
Wisdom – The delicate, knowing appearance of violets conveys wisdom, intelligence, and creativity. They are symbols of the insights, innovations, and perspectives the LGBTQ community has cultivated by virtue of existing outside the mainstream.
Individuality – Violets’ rich depth and complex hues embody the unique personality, talents, and contributions of each LGBTQ person. Their wild growing habits represent freedom to live as one’s true self.
Pride – Violets’ bold purple shades connect them to pride and visibility. Their vibrant, unabashed color mirrors the LGBTQ community’s celebrations of identity and culture developed over decades of activism.
Resilience – The ability of violets to courageously return each year represents the LGBTQ community overcoming adversity through strength and solidarity. Their small size and vibrant color symbolize the power and beauty contained within marginalized groups.
Remembrance – As nostalgic symbols of LGBT culture’s early history, violets honor legacies of queer struggle and loss. Their sweet fragrance conjures continuity between past, present, and future.
Violets in Various LGBTQ Cultural Contexts
While violets hold broad symbolism, they also carry some more specific meanings within different facets of LGBTQ community.
Lesbian Culture – For lesbian, bisexual, and queer women, violets reference connection to foremothers like Sappho and signify romantic love between women. They represent beauty, sensitivity, and strength contained within femininity.
Gay Male Perspectives – From a historical gay male lens, violets and lavender may represent overcoming toxic masculinity and embracing whole identities integrating feminine qualities like tenderness, vulnerability, and devotion.
Transgender Experiences – Violets convey the concept of being one’s authentic self regardless of societal constraints on gender expression. Their layered petals represent the complexity and dimensionality of gender identity.
Asexuality / Aromanticism – Violets’ ability to propagate asexually through self-pollination makes them fitting symbols for asexual and aromantic identity. They represent pride in these orientations and profound love connections that are not necessarily romantic or sexual.
Queer Youth – For LGBTQ adolescents first exploring identity, violets mirror the shy beauty of blossoming into one’s true self. They encourage embracing delicate complexity on the passage to bold, unapologetic adulthood.
Conclusion
From their origins as subtle symbols enabling covert connection in times of oppression, violets have blossomed into multifaceted emblems representing the fullness of queer identity today. With their depth of color and interpretive potential, they continue to add meaningful beauty, hope, and commemoration to LGBTQ culture. Violets’ sweet simplicity layers profound stories of the past which root LGBTQ people in a sense of community while allowing their unique identities and experiences to flower.
