--- title: Lena Waithe Wears Rainbow Pride Flag Cape at 2018 Met Gala description: People are rallying around Lena Waithe's powerful Pride flag cape at the 2018 Met Gala. canonical: https://time.com/5268873/lena-waithe-rainbow-pride-flag-cape-met-gala-2018/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-08T02:42:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:42.613Z og:title: Lena Waithe Wears Rainbow Pride Flag Cape at 2018 Met Gala og:description: A fashion statement with a purpose og:url: https://time.com/5268873/lena-waithe-rainbow-pride-flag-cape-met-gala-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cff9ace6ccdc6cd/69892fc2db2987555225f9a0/gettyimages-955789620.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4791 og:image:height: 2695 og:image:alt: Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala - Cocktails og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lena Waithe Wears Rainbow Pride Flag Cape at 2018 Met Gala twitter:description: A fashion statement with a purpose twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cff9ace6ccdc6cd/69892fc2db2987555225f9a0/gettyimages-955789620.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Are Rallying Behind Lena Waithe's Powerful Pride Fashion Statement at the 2018 Met Gala  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 8, 2018 2:42 AM UTC  Lena Waithe attends the 2018 Met Gala in pride flag. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue) Lena Waithe attends the 2018 Met Gala in pride flag. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18—Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang May 8, 2018 2:42 AM UTC The annual Met Gala is [fashion’s biggest night](http://time.com/5256466/met-gala-2018-details-theme-date/), a platform that [Lena Waithe](http://time.com/5225210/lena-waithe-mary-tyler-moore-biopic/) used this year to send a powerful message. The Emmy award-winning creative, who is openly gay, showed up to the [2018 Met Gala](http://time.com/5257694/rihanna-met-gala-dress-pope-2018/) in a black suit with a colorful rainbow flag worn as a flowing cape, a fashion statement that firmly affirmed her pride as a queer woman. The symbolism of Lena’s bold rainbow cape was especially relevant as the theme of the 2018 Met Gala was [_Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination_](http://time.com/5015330/rihanna-met-gala-2018/) and the [Catholic church has historically rejected homosexuality.](http://time.com/3895214/ireland-gay-marriage-referendum-catholic-church/) Needless to say, the Internet was here for the display of inclusivity that Lena had at the Met Gala and took to social media to sound off on it. > [](https://twitter.com/scholaurship/status/993632117644058629) > [](https://twitter.com/NotAgainBen/status/993630685335379968) > [](https://twitter.com/fuggirls/status/993632991090851840) > [](https://twitter.com/allanbrocka/status/993632607630802945) > [](https://twitter.com/MsPackyetti/status/993636310043815936) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5268873/lena-waithe-rainbow-pride-flag-cape-met-gala-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5268873/lena-waithe-rainbow-pride-flag-cape-met-gala-2018/"},"headline":"People Are Rallying Behind Lena Waithe's Powerful Pride Fashion Statement at the 2018 Met Gala","datePublished":"2018-05-08T02:42:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:42.613Z","description":"A fashion statement with a purpose","url":"https://time.com/5268873/lena-waithe-rainbow-pride-flag-cape-met-gala-2018/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Met Gala 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cff9ace6ccdc6cd/69892fc2db2987555225f9a0/gettyimages-955789620.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cff9ace6ccdc6cd/69892fc2db2987555225f9a0/gettyimages-955789620.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala - Cocktails","caption":"Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination Costume Institute Gala - Cocktails","creditText":"Dimitrios Kambouris/MG18—Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5268873/lena-waithe-rainbow-pride-flag-cape-met-gala-2018/","name":"People Are Rallying Behind Lena Waithe's Powerful Pride Fashion Statement at the 2018 Met Gala"}}]}] ```