Editing Rainbow flag (section)

==History==
In the 18th century, [[American Revolutionary War]] writer [[Thomas Paine]] proposed that a rainbow flag be used as a maritime flag to signify neutral ships in time of war.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Conway |editor1-first=Moncure Daniel |title=The Writings of Thomas Paine |date=1895 |volume= 3 |page=367 |chapter=XXIX – The Eighteenth Fructidor |publisher=[[G.P. Putnam's Sons]] |location=New York }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=[[Federal Writers' Project]] (WPA) |title=New York—A Guide to the Empire State |date=1940 |edition=1st |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0195000382}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=New Rochelle, NY–Points of Interest |url=http://thehistorybox.com/ny_state/nys_interest_article00006.htm |website=The History Box |date=May 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108033944/http://www.thehistorybox.com/ny_state/nys_interest_article00006.htm |archive-date=January 8, 2009 |url-status=dead}} (Transcription of ''New York—A Guide to the Empire State'' page.)</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Abbey |first1=Edward |title=One Life at a Time, Please |date=1988 |edition=1st |page=58 |publisher=[[Henry Holt and Company]] |location=New York |isbn=0805006028 |url=https://archive.org/details/onelifeattimeple00abbe/page/58 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Contemporary international uses of a rainbow flag dates to the beginning of the 20th century. The [[International Co-operative Alliance]] adopted a rainbow flag in 1925.  A [[Wiphala|similar flag]] (ca. 1920) is used in Andean indigenism in [[Peru]] and [[Bolivia]] to represent the legacy of the [[Inca Empire]]. Since 1961, the international [[Peace rainbow flag|peace flag]], also known as the PACE flag, has been especially popular in Italy and to a lesser extent Europe and the rest of the world. Since 1978, when it was created to represent [[gay pride]], the rainbow [[Rainbow flag (LGBT)|pride flag]] has evolved as a symbol of the [[LGBT movement]] (in 1978, the community as a whole was referred to and described as the "Gay" community; the term "LGBT" did not yet exist.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gaysweek (September 25, 1978) |url=https://www.pridemuseum.plus/search-box/Gaysweek%20New%2067%20September%201987/GaysweekNew67September1987.html |website=Pride Museum |access-date=11 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gay community news: February 19, 1983. volume 10, number 30 |url=https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/files/neu:m046hr752 |website=Northeastern University Library |publisher=[[Northeastern University]] |access-date=11 June 2023}}</ref>)

There are several independent rainbow flags in use today.