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| | Lex Scripta |
 | | However, Wilde's notoriety as a convicted homosexual inevitably led to his adoption as patron saint of the gay rights movement, which began in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, but is now usually thought of as an American phenomenon and dated to the Stonewall riots in 1969. |
 | | Wilde's trademark green carnation became one of the first symbols adopted by homosexual men to identify themselves, although latterly supplanted by the pink triangle (adapted from the distinctive markings used to identify homosexual prisoners in Nazi concentration camps), the rainbow pride flag, the lambda symbol, and, more recently, the red AIDS awareness ribbon. |
 | | This may well have surprised Wilde, because, when asked what the green carnation signified, he replied: "Nothing whatever, but that is just what nobody will guess". |
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