# How did the gay guys get pink as their color? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2020, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565 "2020-09-26T07:07:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/21 "2020-09-27T17:32:53Z")
> [@digs](#): > > We don’t have a universally-used, common name for Light Blue or Light Yellow… but we have PINK as a common label for Light Red. Periwinkle, cornflower, turquoise, aqua, azure, etc. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/22 "2020-09-27T17:40:00Z")
And now they’ve claimed every color of the rainbow! I’m all for Gay Pride, but no fair, gay guys. Leave at least a couple colors for us heteros (I guess for very conservative heteros, those colors would be black and white). ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/23 "2020-09-27T17:44:57Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Periwinkle, cornflower, turquoise, aqua, azure, etc Yes, [clearly there aren’t many](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors:_A%E2%80%93F) [names for colors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors:_G%E2%80%93M) [in widespread use.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors:_N%E2%80%93Z) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/24 "2020-09-27T18:16:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Leave at least a couple colors for us heteros We’ll always have egg shell. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/25 "2020-09-27T18:31:09Z")
“We’ll always have camo, sweetheart…” [/HumpheryBogartVoice] ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/26 "2020-09-27T20:01:38Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Leave at least a couple colors for us heteros Hey, #gaycolorsmatter. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/27 "2020-09-27T21:21:19Z")
I wear a lot of pink, never gave it a second thought. I met my wife (some 33 years ago) whilst wearing a salmon pink Lacoste cardigan. (mind you she does say that I’m the gayest straight man she knows…and now I’m wondering on what data she is basing that ) ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/28 "2020-09-28T03:19:44Z")
In Australia, for many years the retail directory was the Pink Pages. It was changed to the Yellow Pages in the 1970s (not sure why). It was the Pink Pages throughout my primary school. I’m sure that if pink was identified as the ‘gay’ colour (even though the word ‘gay’ wasn’t), there would have been endless jokes about ‘What services can you find in the Pink Pages?’. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/29 "2020-09-28T11:40:39Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@razordance](#): > > > > Pink is every STRAIGHT guy’s favorite color! > > Says the guy who thinks he’s straight… > > … > > I’ve always wondered why we have names for primary and secondary colors… and then a name for only ONE “tint” of a color. > > We don’t have a universally-used, common name for Light Blue or Light Yellow… but we have PINK as a common label for Light Red. > > Oh, and, no one says “Oh, that carnation is such a beautiful Light Red”; if you did someone would say "Huh? You mean _pink?"_ I believe in Russian, light blue and dark blue have separate basic color names. As to the folks who are saying thinks like “lavender,” that’s not a basic color word in English: black, white, grey, blue, orange, red, green, purple, yellow, brown, pink, tan. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/30 "2020-10-09T16:54:52Z")
Where have you got that list from? I wouldn’t put Tan as being any more common than Lavender, really. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/31 "2020-10-09T21:50:50Z")
Maybe it’s because I grew up in the ‘70s that I consider it basic. I couldn’t really tell you what color lavender is, but tan is immediately recognizable to me. Looking at Wikipedia’s basic color list, they have only eleven, omitting tan. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/32 "2020-10-10T00:44:01Z")
What colors do the other days have? ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2020, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/33 "2020-10-10T01:04:55Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Maybe it’s because I grew up in the ‘70s that I consider it basic. But you left out “avocado”? ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/34 "2020-10-10T01:07:59Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Yes, [clearly there aren’t many](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors:_A%E2%80%93F) [names for colors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors:_G%E2%80%93M) [in widespread use.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors:_N%E2%80%93Z) [_Nobody_ can spell “fuchsia”](https://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/) ---
**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:** [October 10, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/35 "2020-10-10T20:52:17Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > As to the folks who are saying thinks like “lavender,” that’s not a basic color word in English: black, white, grey, blue, orange, red, green, purple, yellow, brown, pink, tan. As pointed out earlier, pink has only been a basic colour word for a few centuries, so the list is expandable. There’s hope for your “tan” yet, but it’s not one of [the likely next candidates](https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26913-lilac-and-turquoise-are-as-basic-as-red-and-orange/). ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/36 "2020-10-10T23:02:32Z")
In Russian, the color used to suggest gay men is light blue. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/37 "2020-10-11T01:07:48Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > As pointed out earlier, pink has only been a basic colour word for a few centuries, so the list is expandable. There’s hope for your “tan” yet, but it’s not one of [the likely next candidates](https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26913-lilac-and-turquoise-are-as-basic-as-red-and-orange/) Actually, before the 15th century, orange was not considered a separate color, but called red-yellow. Then the Portuguese introduced orange trees to Europe, and “orange” caught on as a color. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2020, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/38 "2020-10-11T09:10:13Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Actually, before the 15th century, orange was not considered a separate color, but called red-yellow. Slight nitpick - orange was called “yellow-red” ( _ġeolurēad_). Some orange things were also just called “red”. Later, (before the introduction of “orange”,) some were also called “yellow-saffron”, or just “saffron”. But I don’t know if _ġeolurēad_ was thought of as just a mix, or was really considered a separate colour with a composite name. I don’t think distinct colour and distinct name are necessarily the same thing. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/39 "2020-10-11T20:27:20Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > What colors do the other days have? [Colors of the Day in Thailand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_the_day_in_Thailand): Sunday – red Monday – yellow or cream Tuesday – pink Wednesday (day) – green Wednesday (night) – gray Thursday – orange or brown Friday – light blue Saturday – purple or black ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565/40 "2020-10-12T00:13:58Z")
Thanks, that’s really interesting. I don’t remember reading anything else where colors mark the days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-gay-guys-get-pink-as-their-color/921565.md?page=1)