# Why is purple purple?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 14, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525 "2003-09-14T05:43:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@the\_duke\_69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_duke_69)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/1 "2003-09-14T05:43:08Z")
what makes purple the color of the gays, where did this all start. If I am correct it was only a color for royalty and the brave and sovern? So whats the dope?
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### Author:  [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/2 "2003-09-14T05:51:17Z")
Purple is the colour of ‘the gays’? I thought they had _pink_ triangles and flags with _rainbows_ on them.
Royalty? I’ve heard that one, but it doens’t seem to fit.
Brave? Like, ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’ brave?
Ah, maybe that’s it.
Color me confused, otherwise. 😕
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/3 "2003-09-14T05:53:32Z")
If I was a betting man, I’d say it has something to do with the Phoenicians (ancient people reknowned for their dyes). It’s at least true stereotypically that purple is the royal color; I don’t know how often monarchs used it particularly. Why might royalty have used it? Maybe because they could get it and other people couldn’t. That’s how you show you have status. 😉
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### Author:  [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/4 "2003-09-14T06:36:46Z")
Because Tinky Winky is purple?
You **have** heard the rumors…
😉
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### Author:  [@soulburnz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulburnz)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/5 "2003-09-14T07:44:19Z")
The color Lavender is associated with gay and lesbians, not Purple.
There are a few theories on this website:
[http://www.gaycruz.com/genderpride.htm](http://www.gaycruz.com/genderpride.htm) (see the Lavender Rhino section)
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/6 "2003-09-14T11:58:45Z")
No it was purple. That kind of went out by the end of the 70s along with the “hanky code,” “the earring code,” etc.
I remember quite a few articles in gay magazines claiming Donnie Osmond as he liked purple.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/7 "2003-09-14T12:38:29Z")
The reason purple was considered a royal colour was because it is so hard to create. It’s easy to go too far in the blues or the mauves and end up all ugly.
At least, that’s what my Art teacher told me. It may be a myth.
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### Author:  [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/8 "2003-09-14T15:13:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \*
> The reason purple was considered a royal colour was because it is so hard to create. It’s easy to go too far in the blues or the mauves and end up all ugly.
>
> At least, that’s what my Art teacher told me. It may be a myth.
The tradition of reserving purple clothing for emperors dates back to the Romans. In those days the best purple dye was obtained from the murex sea snail and was very expensive to produce (it was far more expensive weight for weight than gold). Senators and senior magistrates were permitted a hand-width purple stripe on their togas and lesser magistrates a narrow stripe, but only emperors and victorious generals were allowed to wear garments that were all purple. Early civilisations had also used purple dye from these shells, but it had always been for the rich only.
Mauve dye wasn’t discovered until the middle of the 19[sup]th[/sup] century, as an accidental by-product of an attempt to synthesise quinine from coal tar. It was actually the first man made dye. Until synthetic methods were developed, the traditional source of blue pigment was lapis lazuli – a semi-precious stone imported mainly from northern Iran, so that cost an arm and a leg too.
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### Author:  [@gubernator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gubernator)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/9 "2003-09-14T15:19:10Z")
Yellow happens to be the Chinese royalty color, though I don’t know why.
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-purple-purple/201525/10 "2003-09-14T19:39:14Z")
> [@](#):
>
> That kind of went out by the end of the 70s along with the “hanky code,” **“the earring code,”** etc.
So it doesn’t matter which ear a guy wears it in anymore? One side (I can never remember which it was) isn’t considered the “gay” ear any longer?