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candidate at the University of Toronto who is researching queer activism, told me. “Flags as symbols facilitate sociality between strangers, inviting community between people who may never actually meet,” Elliott Tilleczek, a Ph.D. They represent what the historian Benedict Anderson called “imagined communities”-self-constituted entities, united less by shared experiences than by shared beliefs in shared experiences. And this year brought another version from Intersex Equality Rights UK, featuring a yellow triangle and purple circle to represent the intersex community, or people born with a reproductive anatomy that doesn’t fit typical male or female definitions.įlags are political symbols, borrowed from the vocabulary of nationalism, with similar overtones of citizenship, belonging, borders. One year later, the Oregon-based graphic designer Daniel Quasar added the trans flag’s stripes as a horizontal chevron to make the Progress Pride Flag. In 2017, Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs introduced black and brown stripes to the Pride flag to recognize queer and trans people of color.
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When I was young and newly out of the closet, around 2013, I saw LGBTQ flags for every community imaginable online, including esoteric variants, such as the green, black, white, and grey aromantic flag, and a pale pink and yellow flag for slim, hairless 20-something twinks. The now-familiar six-stripe flag is actually a redesign. Later that year, though, the flag lost its pink stripe because of fabric unavailability at the local manufacturer, and turquoise fell off the year after for the same reason. That earliest iteration included pink and turquoise stripes, symbolizing sex and art, respectively-parts of queer life that the designers thought were worth fighting for. Jason Clayworth is an investigative reporter at the Des Moines Register.Since its first flight at 1978’s Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco, the rainbow flag has evolved multiple times. Court records reviewed by the Register do not indicate that he has filed any further motions linked to his representation in the case. He did not respond to a request for comment. Martinez is currently being held at the Iowa Medical & Classification Center correctional facility in Coralville.
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She said she believes Martinez was ultimately satisfied with his legal representation. Marcucci said the case was assigned to her before the hate crime enhancement and before her supervisors were aware the case involved issues pertaining to sexuality. Had he ordered the sentences to run concurrently, the incarceration would have totaled 15 years, a slight reduction. He did, however, order Martinez to serve the sentences consecutively. Van Marel under state sentencing law had little leeway when determining Martinez's penalty. “I think it’s a very interesting issue in that the First Amendment right to freedom of expression covers things like burning the American flag, but burning the rainbow flag is something that was criminalized,” Marcucci told the Register this month. And because the arson conviction was a felony, the habitual offender enhancement also applied due to Martinez's prior conviction on drug and theft counts in Texas. But the hate crime status bumped the arson charge from an aggravated misdemeanor to a felony, which carries a more severe sentence. Martinez would have received a maximum of around three years in prison for the convictions. Marcucci contrasted the case with others, noting her concern with how dramatically the hate crime and habitual offender enhancements increased Martinez's prison time. She said she believes - if anything - her sexuality was an asset as she argued his case.
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Marcucci told the Register that she fought aggressively for Martinez, including seeking dismissal of the hate crime enhancement on free speech grounds. “She doesn’t have my best interests at heart, your honor,” Martinez said, according to the transcript. But Marcucci was ultimately reassigned to the case after Martinez was unable to retain his own attorney, court records show.īefore his conviction, Martinez made several statements to media and in court proceedings condemning or disparaging gay people, including claiming in an August hearing that “a person who cannot discern their difference between gender is mentally retarded.” He said his views were based on his religious beliefs.Īs he argued to be allowed to hire his own attorney, he told the court that Marcucci “was about to blow at some of the things I was telling her.” He said he was willing to stand behind his beliefs even if it resulted in his incarceration. Van Marel allowed Martinez to seek private counsel. And I can just read right through the lines,” Martinez told Iowa District Associate Judge Steven Van Marel, according to the transcript. “It’s not ironic they appointed her to my case, your honor.