For those who can’t interpret nautical signal flags spelling out the message “Hello Sailor,” the museum has helpfully hung a rainbow flag as well.

Gay Flag

The flag commonly associated with gay pride is fluttering on the wharf outside Halifax’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic to mark a new show that delves into age-old stereotypes of sexuality at sea.

The exhibition looks primarily at a gay subculture that flourished aboard British passenger liners of the 1950s and 1960s, many of which docked in Halifax. At a time when homosexuality was illegal, there was a remarkable openness on board.

“Homophobia from shipmates was relatively rare,” said Dan Conlin, the museum’s curator of marine history, to the Globe and Mail.

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