The sun was shining above the groups demonstrating against the US-British military campaign against Iraq in 2003 in Beirut. We were a group of eager youths, university student activists meeting in front of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia building in the city center. We stood at a corner, trying to avoid a crowd calling for the victory of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and another crowd cheering for a holy war in which Islam would defeat Christianity. Suddenly, we saw a group of young people appear from afar, heading towards us calmly and organically. They raised a rainbow flag. It was one of the first times (if not the very first time) that the rainbow flag was raised in a public and activist context in Beirut.