The light pink and blue represent the colors traditionally associated with girls and boys, and the white represents transitioning, neutral or undefined genders, and intersexuality. Monica Helms, a transgender woman, creates the transgender pride flag. Page explained that the pink represents same-sex sttraction, the blue represents opposite-sex attraction, and the purple overlap represents attraction to both. Michael Page designs the bisexual pride flag, a three-color design. The six-color flag is the most common LGBTQ+ flag worldwide. With only seven colors, activists noticed it was impossible to split in half to be displayed more easily in public, and so the turquoise stripe was eliminated as well. The six-color flag enters popular use following the assassination of Harvey Milk.The hot pink stripe was eliminated over the difficulty obtaining the fabric. From top to bottom, the colors represent sex, life, healing, sunlight, nature, magic and art, serenity, and spirit. The eight-color flag first flew over the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in June of 1978. Gilbert Baker, a friend of San Fancisco’s openly gay City Supervisor Harvey Milk, designs the first rainbow flag. Here’s a timeline of some of the major LGBTQ+ flags and what they stand for.
The history of the Pride Flag goes back to the 1970s, and the design has changed numerous times over the years. And because many people belong to both communities, they’re not two distinct causes but instead overlap.Colorful flags are flown at many LGBTQ+ events. Sometimes called the Resistance Flag (opens in new tab), according to Them writer Matt Baume: "The modern LGBTQ+ liberation movement was touched off by queer and trans people of color and their struggle continues to this day, with both communities seeking justice, equality, and freedom from oppression. The raised fist is a sign of unity and support as well as defiance and resistance, and the various colors on the fist represent diversity. No surprise, the flag has become more popular in 2020 and beyond. Johnson (opens in new tab), the Black drag queen who may have thrown the first brick (opens in new tab) at the Stonewall Inn riots) to the movements. Read on to learn more about the flags, their origins, and their meanings.Īs a representation of Queer People of Color, it's not known who the original creator of the flag was (opens in new tab) but represents solidarity with the BLM movement as well as the intersection of the queer and Black communities (including the importance of figures like Marsha P. In a world in which students are expelled for handing out Pride flags to protest Florida's "Don't Say Gay Bill," the need to show support for LGTBQ+ rights-publicly as well as privately-is as important as ever. Recent Pride events have even more significance in conjunction with BLM protests and activities You may have seen the hashtag #BlackTransLivesMatter, for instance, or the raised-fist resistance Pride flag (more on that below). But what's powerful is that the breadth of LGBTQ+ representation continues to evolve, a nod to the diversity of sex, sexuality, attraction, and gender. There's also some disagreement about what should be considered the "official" flags, and controversy about some of the flags' origins and meaning. This list of 30 Pride flags utilizes information from a range of sources, in particular The Advocate (opens in new tab)'s comprehensive guide-but even outside of this article, there are many more iterations of Pride flags that exist, including flags from different countries (opens in new tab) and states flags that include relevant symbols and two or more flags combined into one.