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Several websites claim that the line "red, gold, and green" in the 1983 song Karma Chameleon by Culture Club refers to the colors of gay pride. For example, Genius:

Before the rainbow was used, red, gold, and green were colors used to display gay pride in the 80s.

Is this true?

Robert Columbia
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    Not sure about the status at the time, but those colours are more commonly associated with [Rastafarians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari), Reggae, and/or the use of cannabis. – jcaron Jan 02 '23 at 08:31

1 Answers1

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Unlikely.

The linked Genius annotation seems to be the source of this claim - it was posted in September 2012 by a user with no other contributions to the site, and has since been copied verbatim to other places, such as Quora.

It's hard to prove a negative, but searching has not turned up any other mention of "red, gold, and green" being used as a gay pride symbol. Multiple respondents to the Genius annotation have also been unable to verify it:

I won’t say it`s wrong, but I looked for it, and I couldn’t find anithing [sic] about that or a picture of the flag, where did you get this info?

A red, gold, and green flag is, however, one of the symbols of the Pan-African movement. A more common claim - posted twice on the Quora thread, and as a proposed edit on Genius - is that Boy George was attempting to draw a parallel between the struggle for racial equality and the struggle for gay equality, but whether that's true is probably a whole different question.

Furthermore, the quote from Genius claims that the rainbow flag was not in use during the 80s, which isn't true: it was invented in 1978, five years before "Karma Chameleon" came out.

F1Krazy
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    Agreed that it's hard to prove a negative, but I would also point out that the 1980s were not _that_ long ago. If that were actually common then, half of the people alive today would be old enough to remember it. The lack of people remembering it from first-hand experience very strongly suggests that it's not accurate. Heck, Boy George is still alive and performing _today_. Someone could just ask him. – reirab Jan 01 '23 at 19:47
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    [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_flag_(LGBT)) says "_the original gay pride flags flew at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978. **Prior to that event, the Pink triangle had been used** as a symbol for the LGBT community_". No mention of a red, gold and green flag (but again, proving a negative...). – jcaron Jan 02 '23 at 10:04
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    More importantly, perhaps, than any of this, *Culture Club* had heavy reggae influences, and the colours red, green and gold are both the colours of reggae and the colours of Rastafarianism. – Araucaria Jan 03 '23 at 00:54