# How did gay guys get to claim pink as their color? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650 "2014-07-08T17:04:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/1 "2014-07-08T17:04:31Z")
I mean, think about it! Pink is every **straight** guy’s favorite color! ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/2 "2014-07-08T17:10:38Z")
Did they? And is it? 😕 ETA: Gay guys didn’t steal pink, they stole the whole _rainbow_. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/3 "2014-07-08T17:13:13Z")
Just in case your question is sincere: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink\_triangle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_triangle) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/4 "2014-07-08T17:13:20Z")
I’ve never seen any of my gay friends in pink. But, all you have to do to claim a color is write it down on a small piece of paper and put it in your fanny pack. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/5 "2014-07-08T17:14:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I mean, think about it! Pink is every **straight** guy’s favorite color! Well, there was the [Nazi bit.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_triangle) [Before that:](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/) > [@](#): > > The march toward gender-specific clothes was neither linear nor rapid. Pink and blue arrived, along with other pastels, as colors for babies in the mid-19th century, yet the two colors were not promoted as gender signifiers until just before World War I—and even then, it took time for popular culture to sort things out. > > For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” > > SNIP: > > Today’s color dictate wasn’t established until the 1940s, as a result of Americans’ preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers. “It could have gone the other way,” Paoletti says. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/6 "2014-07-08T17:30:41Z")
_sigh_ I sense a sad paucity of dirty minds in this thread . . . ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/7 "2014-07-08T17:33:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > _sigh_ I sense a sad paucity of dirty minds in this thread . . . Ohhhhhh…! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/8 "2014-07-08T17:34:11Z")
It is the International Recognition Color for anus, which the homosexuals highly esteem. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyUseless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MostlyUseless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyUseless)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/9 "2014-07-08T17:59:42Z")
In that case, I would have thought a slightly different color than pink or blue. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/10 "2014-07-08T21:58:46Z")
I wear pink all the time. Chicks dig it. ---
**Author:** ![Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absinthe_Anecdote)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/11 "2014-07-08T22:16:58Z")
This is all very confusing. Wasn’t that Teletubbie accused of being gay for being purple? [Jerry Falwell](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/276677.stm) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/12 "2014-07-08T23:56:34Z")
Pink? Like rare roast beef? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/13 "2014-07-10T04:24:27Z")
Maybe they were born on a Tuesday? In Thailand, pink is the color of anyone born on that day of the week. (Each day has its own color.) That’s why the school color of Chulalongkorn University is pink, because King Chulalongkorn was born on a Tuesday. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/14 "2014-07-10T04:33:59Z")
I’m not gay, and I wear pink shirts. In fact I am wearing one now, a button-down oxford. I admit that it makes me feel pretty, but that’s another story. 😉 Seriously, I really like pink shirts. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/15 "2014-07-10T05:46:31Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I mean, think about it! Pink is every **straight** guy’s favorite color! Why should I settle for a pale imitation of red when I can have the real thing? ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/16 "2014-07-10T11:25:38Z")
…hate Pink…hate purple…I read somewhere that pink was once the ‘boy’ color as it was a variation of the masculine red color…who knows? I’m an orange fan myself…I own way too many orange shirts. I’m always mistaken for a Home Depot employee when I’m there ( which is daily, thanks to my kitchen Reno) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/17 "2014-07-10T11:38:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > How did gay guys get to claim pink as their color? _Because_ it’s the manliest colour, of course. Ask the Japanese, or the Elizabethans. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/18 "2014-07-10T11:58:51Z")
> [@BaldDudePeekskill](#): > > …thanks to my kitchen Reno) I once bought a pink sham in kitchen Reno, just to watch it dye. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/19 "2014-07-10T14:41:46Z")
No one else wanted it? ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2014, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-gay-guys-get-to-claim-pink-as-their-color/692650/20 "2014-07-10T14:45:30Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Pink? Like rare roast beef? No no no! Tacos! Pink Tacos! so many I’ve eaten… there.