This really wasn’t how I wanted to wake up this morning, but I have to get this off my chest.

I’m not typically a sad creature, nor a particularly angry one, but this kind of thing somehow manages to make my blood boil while breaking my heart at the very same time.

My friend Andrew sent me a video this morning. For some context, Andrew is very Christian, and I don’t have any issue with that in itself. Lately, though, his Christianity seems to have been taking a darker and darker turn. There have been several things he’s sent me recently that honestly make me nervous that he’s becoming a zealot, and this video is one of them.

The video tried to draw a connection between the LGBTQ+ pride flag and Satan’s pride—his desire to be worshipped as God is. It explained that the body of God upon His throne radiated light and fire, and that this radiance resembled a rainbow. According to the video, Satan looked upon that beauty, became filled with pride, and desired that same worship for himself.

From there, the speaker began describing the original colors of the pride flag and what they represent, though they even managed to leave out a couple. As a quick summary:

  • Hot pink represents sexuality.
  • Red represents life—the act of living, the fight for it, and the joy of being alive.
  • Orange represents healing.
  • Yellow represents sunlight.
  • Green represents nature.
  • Turquoise represents magic and art.
  • Indigo represents serenity.
  • Violet represents spirit—not a higher power, but the shared spirit of the LGBTQ+ community.

This is where the video truly lost me.

The speaker claimed that because violet represents “spirit,”

“There are only two kinds of spirits: the Holy Spirit and the devil.”

That isn’t what the violet stripe means at all.

It does not represent some higher spirit that we worship. It represents the collective spirit of our community—the simple fact that, at the end of the day, we choose to stand together because people have spent generations trying to silence us, erase us, and convince us that we should not exist.

And as for the whole rainbow argument… do you have any idea how many rainbows appear throughout art? Or how many different meanings artists have given them throughout history?

A ridiculous number.

No one designing the pride flag was sitting there thinking about God’s radiance or trying to imitate it. Gilbert Baker created the flag to represent LGBTQ+ people. It was an artistic symbol made for a community—not some secret attempt to convince people to worship the devil.

That connection exists only because someone wanted it to.

Then there’s the claim that everything must belong to either God or the devil.

Really?

The world isn’t painted in black and white. It’s painted in endless shades of gray. What logical reason do we have to believe there are only two spiritual forces in existence, and that every idea, symbol, or person must automatically belong to one or the other?

Most beings, regardless of who they are, want independence.

Most don’t want to rule others—that is an enormous responsibility that many have no desire to carry.

Most don’t want to be controlled, either. People often follow expectations simply because it’s easier than standing apart.

But LGBTQ+ people have never had that luxury.

We stand apart because we are different, and we’ve learned to be proud of that difference.

We are not proud because we seek power.

We are not proud because we desire control.

We are proud because, despite generations of oppression, hatred, and attempts to erase us, we are still here.

So, to the person who made that video, I have only this to say:

You may try to tear us down with your lies and your slander, but people have been trying to do that for far longer than you’ve been alive. Your attempt to paint us as a devil-worshipping sex cult will fail, just as countless attempts before yours have failed. We are still here, and we are not going anywhere.