The alliance's literature states that Doerr chose the symbol specifically for its denotative meaning in the context of chemistry and physics: 'a complete exchange of energy–that moment or span of time witness to absolute activity'. In 1970, graphic designer Tom Doerr selected the lower-case Greek letter lambda (λ) to be the symbol of the New York chapter of the Gay Activists Alliance. The symbols for the female (♀), male (♂), and combined male-female (⚦) combined (⚧) are used to represent transgender people, as is the simple combined symbol ⚦.
These symbols first appeared in the 1970s. Two interlocking female symbols (⚢) represent a lesbian or the lesbian community, and two interlocking male symbols (⚣) a gay male or the gay male community.
Lesbian and gay interlocked gender sex symbols
