The decision by several Chega MPs to wear green carnations during Portugal’s 25th April Revolution celebrations over this past weekend, rather than the traditional red carnations, sparked widespread debate on social media, where users began sharing the flower’s historical association with writer Oscar Wilde, and its coded use amongst gay men in the late 19th century.
During the parliamentary ceremony marking 25th April, members of the populist right-wing party appeared wearing green carnations. In his address to the plenary chamber, party leader André Ventura said: “This green carnation is the symbol of our Portuguese immigrant community across the world.”
MP Pedro Frazão also posted a photograph on Instagram wearing the same flower, writing: “Wearing this carnation on 25th April is a sign of mourning for what the country is becoming.”
The gesture quickly prompted online reactions linking the green carnation to Wilde’s cultural legacy. Socialist Party MP Isabel Moreira commented on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter: “We hadn’t planned on thanking the far right for the green carnation. 25th April always.”
According to historical accounts referenced by cultural institutions, Wilde asked friends in 1892 to wear green carnations on their lapels at the premiere of his play Lady Windermere's Fan. What initially appeared to be an aesthetic flourish soon evolved into one of the earliest modern coded symbols associated with homosexual identity.
Typically worn on the left lapel, the green carnation became a discreet signal amongst men attracted to other men, particularly within Wilde’s social circles. Its notoriety grew further following the publication of The Green Carnation by Robert Hichens, a satirical novel loosely inspired by Wilde and his acquaintances. Considered scandalous at the time, the book contributed to the atmosphere surrounding the writer’s later trial and conviction.
The motif endured into the early 20th century, appearing again in the operetta Bitter Sweet by Noël Coward, which featured a song referencing the flower and its association with gay subculture.
The precise meaning of the green carnation was never explicitly confirmed by Wilde. According to historians involved in Oscar Wilde heritage tours, Wilde himself responded enigmatically when asked about it, reportedly saying the flower meant “absolutely nothing, which is precisely why nobody will guess”.
Scholars argue that the ambiguity was deliberate. By suggesting that the carnations were artificially dyed, Wilde was echoing ideas central to the Decadent movement, which prized artifice and aestheticism over naturalism. In Victorian society, where the label “unnatural” was often used to stigmatise homosexuality, the artificial green bloom subtly operated as a coded reference understood primarily by those within the community.
