dis2@houxm.UUCP (12/02/83)
After writing the note on the evolution of lambda, I telephoned some
friends of former days in order to verify my recollections. My
friends in turn called other friends to verify their recollections.
The results are:
1. All agree that the use of the lambda from physics for resistance
was the original idea. It was suggested by Arthur Squires, the
Chemcial Engineer and inventor of the Squires Process. Not all
agree to whom Arthur made this suggestion, but all agree it was
Arthur sometime in 1968.
2. Five recall it being used ocassionally at GLF. Three recall it
being worn by the GLF contingent at the Chicago convention in
1968. Two remember it being on the Queens for Gene button later
in 1968. Three insist it was never used until its adoption by
GAA.
3. All agree that it was adopted as the emblem of GAA when it was
founded. Six specifically remember that it was Arthur Bell, now
a gossip columnist with the Village Voice, who got it adopted as
the GAA logo and used it on press releases and banners at the
early ZAPS. It definitely then had the resistance meaning. Two
people recall that the lambda was then explained as an upside
down version of the "V" sign so common then at peace
demonstrations. (The upper part of the lambda being the hand
and the legs of the lambda the fingers in a "V"). Five vividly
recall Jim Owles shouting "Lambda is for Resistance" from the
City Hall steps and at the Daily News buidling.
4. All agree that very soon the lambda came to be a secret "sign"
among gays, much as the fish among early Chrstians but without
any anagramatic signifigance. As it became so used, it lost its
original meaning and the secondary elaborations began. Four
people recall that at this time lambda was said to be the y in
Gay upside down. The plain lambda button of an orange lambda on
a blue background was common on both coasts by 1971.
5. All agree that the use of lambda in the name of gay
organisations began very early as a result of the success of
GAA, particularly the dances in the firehouse. Some of the
first oragnisations to use the lambda in their names were
founded by members or dropouts from GAA. Lambda Legal Defense
Fund is an example.
6. All agree that now lambda simply means gay and is generally used
when the word gay would be problematic. net.lambda for
example!!!
Creighton Clarke
P.S.
As an example of the adaptability and popularity of the lambda,
one person insisted that the original pillory at the Mineshaft
was lambda shaped!!