Pride Flag Bobble Unveiled to Celebrate Pride Month

MILWAUKEE – This morning, in conjunction with Pride Month which is celebrated in June, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a limited-edition Pride Flag Bobble. This marks the first Pride Flag Bobble. The special edition bobble is being produced by the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.

Positioned on a rectangular base, the bobble of the Progress Pride Flag, which was introduced in 2018, features the common red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight), green (nature), blue (serenity), and violet (spirit) horizontal stripes. Evolving from the Philadelphia Pride Flag, the redesigned Progress Flag added a chevron along the hoist that features black, brown, light blue, pink, and white stripes. White, pink, and light blue were added to represent the trans community. While the black and brown stripes still represented communities of color, the black stripe is also a nod to the individuals that the community lost during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s. According to Daniel Quasar, who designed this version of the pride flag, “The arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made.”

The Pride Flag Bobble is currently available exclusively in the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s Online Store. The bobbles are $30 each with an $8 flat-rate shipping charge per order. They are expected to ship in September.

Pride Month commemorates the Stonewall Riots, a conflict between police and gay rights activists which began on June 28th, 1969. The riots sparked greater political activism and led to the growth of an international gay rights movement. In 1970, on the first anniversary of the riots, hundreds of demonstrators marched past the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of lower Manhattan in New York City, making it America’s first gay pride parade. Pride Month was first recognized in 1994 when a coalition of education-based organizations in the U.S. designated October as LGBT History Month. The federal government first recognized the month in 1999 when President Bill Clinton declared June as Gay & Lesbian Pride Month. In 2009, President Barack Obama declared June as LGBT Pride Month. In 2021, President Joe Biden declared June as LGBTQ Pride Month.

The original rainbow flag was designed by Gilbert Baker, an artist from San Francisco, in 1978. That flag had eight colors. The next year, the design was changed to use six colors, partly to make it easier to mass produce the flags. The various colors came to reflect both the immense diversity and the unity of the LGBTQ community. The flag is typically displayed horizontally, with the red stripe on top, as it would be in a natural rainbow. Over the years, several other flags have been introduced to represent different aspects of LGBTQ identity. LGBT people and allies currently use rainbow flags and many rainbow-themed items and color schemes as an outward symbol of their identity or support.

“In celebration of Pride Month, we are honored to create the first-ever bobble of the Pride Flag,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. “The rainbow flag has been a symbol of Pride worldwide for nearly 50 years and we are confident this bobble will be a must-have for people in the LGBTQ community and everyone who supports them.”

About the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum:
The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which is located at 170 S. 1st St. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, opened to the public on February 1st, 2019. The HOF and Museum also produces high quality, customized bobbleheads for retail sale as well as organizations, individuals, and teams across the country. Visit us online and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.