Is The Flag of Cusco, Peru Also LGBT?

Visiting the Andean city of Cusco, Peru in 1994, my wife, a native Spanish Peruvian, and I entered the outskirts of the first Spanish capital of Peru by cab directly from the airport on a rather clear, sunny day. An avid vexillologist (flags and heraldry), the first thing I noticed was not the 16th-century Spanish architecture, but the rainbow flag flying just about everywhere. "Those folks really get around," I said to my wife, meaning the LGBTQ community, whose rainbow design was its community colors. What I didn't realize was that this particular rainbow flag was the official city flag of Cusco itself. But why are the two flags so similar?

As it happens, the rainbow design for the flag of Cusco came first. The design was introduced in 1973 by Raúl Montesinos Espejo, according to the Wikipedia entry, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Cusco Tawantinsuyo Radio station where he was an on-air host. Apparently, a Spanish priest accompanying the first invasion force of the Spanish army under Pizarro in 1532 wrote about the native populations, known as Tawantinsuyo, carrying this multi-color banner. This may be why it was adopted by Espejo as an indigenous symbol for his radio station. Scholars have since questioned the priest's account, but the City of Cusco still adopted the rainbow design of seven colors as its official city flag in 1978.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Gilbert Baker, a prominent artist, was tasked to come up with a unifying flag for the LGBT community's first Gay Pride Parade in 1978. The first rainbow flag he designed had eight stripes, then seven and now six as the official design (the reason: pink and turquoise were hard to manufacture and even numbered stripes are easier to see when hung on poles; see image 4). Baker's design may have been inspired by Judy Garland's signature song, "Over the Rainbow" or it was reminiscent of a similar design of the "Flag of the Races" used on campuses in the 1960s, according to Wikipedia. Regardless, there are many different versions of the rainbow flag design today, including that of the International Order of the Rainbow Girls, a Masonic youth program.

So how is it that two very similar flags representing two entirely different ideals nearly 5,000 miles apart were adopted within the same time period? Just one of those accidents of history, I guess.

By the way, the Cusco flag (first three images) is an entirely hand stitched silk and cotton display flag measuring about 9" x 12" and was meant to be attached by the red and white cords to a wooden desk stand. These were sold at the small shops at the Plaza de Armas in the center of the town. The next day we went to see Macchu Picchu. What an experience.