Emblems of equality: Discovering the world of LGBTQ+ Pride flags

During Pride Month, it’s common to see a variety of LGBTQ+ Pride flags. But the variety of designs and meanings can be hard to decipher. Each one has its own unique history and symbolism, which celebrate the diversity of identities under the queer umbrella.

Below is an explanation of some of the most common Pride flags and their meanings. While many other Pride flags exist, some represent niche LGBTQ+ micro-identities as well as special interests and communities. So consider this a mere introduction to the world of LGBTQ+ flags.

Related:

London artist brings together every Pride flag for the first time ever

LGBTQ+ tourists have another reason to visit Leadenhall Market in the heart of London’s financial district: an art installation that displays thirty different iterations of the Pride flag.

Gilbert Baker Pride Flag

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In 1977, gay activist and politician Harvey Milk challenged gay military veteran and artist Gilbert Baker to create a symbol to represent and unite the gay community. Before then, the most common gay emblem was the upside-down pink triangle symbol that Nazis used to mark queer prisoners throughout the Holocaust — a dark reminder of anti-gay oppression.

Baker’s original design — co-created, hand-dyed, and sewn by Lynn Segerblom, James McNamara, and other activists — was first displayed at the June 25, 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. It consisted of eight differently colored stripes, each with its own symbolism:

• Hot Pink: Sexuality
• Red: Life
• Orange: Healing
• Yellow: Sunlight
• Green: Nature
• Turquoise: Magic/art
• Indigo: Serenity/harmony
• Violet: Spirit

In 1985, Baker told The Bay Area Reporter that he chose the rainbow design because of its associations with the 1960s countercultural hippie and World Peace movements, as well as other uses dating as far back as ancient Egypt. He also said the flag related to the Rolling Stone’s song “She’s Like a Rainbow” (a song about living artistry) rather than Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (a song about idyllic escapism).

1978 Pride Flag

Following Harvey Milk’s November 1978 assassination, demand for the Pride flag increased. While increasing production to meet demand, Baker and the Paramount Flag Company (where Baker worked) found that hot pink fabric wasn’t widely available. They dropped the pink stripe from the flag, reducing the number of colored stripes from eight to seven.

Traditional Gay Pride Flag

In 1979, production of the rainbow flag increased to adorn the lamp posts along the route for San Francisco’s Pride parade route. It’s unclear why the turquoise strip was removed, though it may have been due to the colored fabric’s unavailability in the fabric market or to its similarity to the color blue.

Either way, the number of colored stripes went from seven to six color. The flag’s six colors are now widely interpreted as representing the following aspects of the LGBTQ+ community and its journey:

• Red: Life and the fight against HIV/AIDS
• Orange: Community healing and health
• Yellow: Sunlight, positive energy, and hope
• Green: Nature and the natural world
• Blue: Harmony and peace
• Purple: Spirit and the diverse identities within the LGBTQ+ community

Philadelphia Pride Flag

The Philadelphia Pride flag was unveiled on June 8, 2017 by Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs, after the city’s Commission on Human Rights published a report on widespread racism in the city’s gay bars. The flag added a black and brown stripe to denote the historic contributions queer people of color as well as the ongoing fight for racial justice and inclusivity.

Some people complained that the rainbow Pride flag already represents all queer people, regardless of skin color. A spokeswoman for Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs said the new flag is neither meant as a “replacement” nor a challenger to the standard six-strip Pride flag, but merely an “additive” and inclusive version of the widely recognized LGBTQ+ icon.

Transgender Pride Flag

Although designers have created various transgender Pride flags over the recent years, the most widely recognized one was created by transgender woman Monica Helms in 1999. The flag made its public debut at a Pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona in 2000.

The Transgender Pride flag consists of five horizontal stripes. The colors represent the following:

• Light Blue: Traditionally masculine color symbolizing individuals who were assigned male at birth and those who identify on the masculine spectrum
• Pink: Traditionally feminine color symbolizing individuals who were assigned female at birth and those who identify on the feminine spectrum
• White: A traditionally neutral color symbolizing individuals who are intersex, transitioning, gender-neutral, or identify as any other non-cisgender identity.

Intersex Pride Flag

The Intersex Pride flag was created in 2013 by Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia, an organization that promotes the human rights and bodily autonomy of intersex people, those born with an anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male.

Carpenter said he wanted to create a non-derivative flag that was “firmly grounded in meaning.” He chose yellow and purple as colors that were “free from gender associations and were historically used to represent intersex people.” He put a circle in the flag to represent something “unbroken and unornamented, symbolizing wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities.”

“We are still fighting for bodily autonomy and genital integrity, and this symbolizes the right to be who and how we want to be,” Carpenter said of the flag’s design.

Progress Pride Flag

The Progress Pride flag was unveiled in June 2018 by Daniel Quasar, a self-identified “queer, nonbinary demiguy” and artist living in the Pacific Northwest. The flag contains the traditional Pride flag’s six rainbow-colored stripes and three differently colored sets of chevrons on its side, each set representing a traditionally marginalized LGBTQ+ community:

• Black chevron: People who are either living with HIV or those who have died from it, and the stigma surrounding both.
• Black and brown chevrons: LGBTQ+ people of color
• Light blue, pink, and white chevrons: Transgender people

Qasar (who uses xe/xem pronouns) designed the flag after seeing the 2017 Philadelphia Pride flag. Xe said xe wanted xyr flag to “shift focus and emphasis to what is important in our current community climate.” The chevrons point rightward to suggest forward movement, but remain on the flag’s left edge to show that progress still needs to be made, Quasar explained.

Intersex-Inclusive Pride Flag

In 2021, Valentino Vecchietti of the group Intersex Equality Rights UK incorporated the intersex flag into the Progress Pride flag. The flag recognizes the intersex community as a traditionally marginalized group and represents both its progress toward achieving equal rights and the progress left to be made.

“I wish to live with a sense of authenticity and not change myself to fit in but instead, to be welcomed to join in with everyone,” Vecchietti told the BBC when explaining why they included the intersex flag within the Progress Pride flag.

This is one of the newest but more popular LGBTQ+ Pride flags.

Queer People of Color Pride Flag

While it’s unclear who created this flag, it emerged online and at San Francisco Pride in 2019 and gained popularity during the worldwide protests for racial justice and police reform in 2020. It represents the overlapping movements for racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights.

The flag’s raised fist represents defiance, resistance, and solidarity — historically, the raised fist has been displayed in support of workers’ rights, anti-fascism, anti-racism, and other revolutionary social movements. The varying colors on the fist represent different skin tones, a sign of anti-racist unity in the ongoing fight for liberation and equality.

Two-Spirit Pride Flag

The Two-Spirit Pride Flag represents members of Indigenous cultures who have both a masculine and feminine spirit within them. The flag signifies a reclamation of Indigenous LGBTQ+ identities, traditions, and sovereignty.

Tumblr user 2Sanon shared the flag online on December 17, 2016, according to Queer In The World. The two feathers signify a male and female spirit, and the circle signifies wholeness in a single being.

Queer Pride Flag

Although not widely recognized or displayed, the Queer Pride Flag was created by designer Pastelmemer in 2015. Its colored stripes represent the following:

• Pink and red: Same-gender attraction for feminine individuals
• Light blue and blue: Same-gender attraction for masculine individuals
• Orange and green: Non-binary individuals.
• Black and white: Asexual, aromantic, and agender spectrum individuals.

Labrys Lesbian Pride Flag

In 1999, a gay male graphic designer named Sean Campbell created the Labrys Lesbian Pride flag for a special Pride edition of the Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Times, according to The Queerstory Files, 

Its purple color represents a mixing of the traditionally masculine color blue with the traditionally feminine pink color. The inverted black triangle reclaims the inverted pink triangle used by Nazis to stigmatize LGBTQ+ prisoners. The labrys, a double-sided axe, has a historic association with ancient Greek female goddesses. In the 1970s, some lesbian feminists embraced the labrys as a symbol of strength and self-sufficiency.

The flag has never been widely recognized as an emblem representing the lesbian community, in part because it was developed by a gay man.

Lesbian Pride Flag

American activist Natalie McCray created the Lesbian Pride Flag in 2010 to signify lesbian experiences and identity. Its seven stripes in varying shades of orange, white, and pink have a specific meaning:

• Dark Orange: Gender non-conformity
• Orange: Community, enthusiasm, and self-worth
• Light Orange: Healing, vitality, and connection to the natural world
• White: Unique relationships to womanhood and the fluidity of gender
• Pink: Serenity and peace
• Dark Pink: Femininity and lesbian uniqueness
• Magenta: Love and attraction

Sometimes the flag shows a lipstick imprint on its upper left corner, signifying “lipstick lesbians,” those who embody a traditionally feminine style.

Butch Lesbian Pride Flags

Tumbler user Dorian-rutherford created the first Butch Lesbian Pride flag in 2016, replacing the lesbian flag’s “feminine” colors with more “masculine” shades of blues and purple to represent butch and non-femme identifying lesbians. Its colors symbolize the following:

• Purples: Lesbians and women loving women
• Blues: Masculinity
• White: people across the gender and sexuality spectrums

The orange version was created by Jim, moderator of the Tumblr page butchspace, Women’s Health reported. Its colored stripes represent the following (according to its creator):

• Red: Passion and sexuality
• Red-orange: Courage
• Light orange: Joy
• White: Renewal
• Beige: Chivalry
• Orange: Warmth
• Brown: Honesty

Bisexual Pride Flag

Michael Page created the Bisexual Pride flag in 1998 as a symbol for bisexual visibility and pride. Its three differently colored horizontal stripes have specific meanings:

• Pink: Same-sex attraction.
• Purple: A combination of both same-sex and opposite-sex attraction, denoting the “queerness of bisexuality”
• Blue: Opposite-sex attraction

The flag’s colors were taken from an earlier version of a Bisexual Pride Flag, created by Liz Nania for the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1987. Nania’s flag had two inverted blue and pink triangles (or “biangles”), which overlapped to create a third lavender biangle.

“The key to understanding the symbolism of the Bi Pride Flag is to know that the purple pixels of color blend unnoticeably into both the pink and blue, just as in the ‘real world,’ where bi people blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight communities,” Nania explained.

Pansexual Pride Flag

The Pansexual Pride flag was anonymously posted by a Tumblr user named Jasper V in 2010. Its colors represent the following:

• Pink: Attraction to individuals who identify as female or feminine.
• Yellow: Attraction to individuals who identify as non-binary, genderqueer, or outside the gender binary.
• Blue: Attraction to individuals who identify as male or masculine.

Skoliosexual Pride Flag

The Skoliosexual Pride Flag was created in 2015 by deviantArt user Savvysweet as a symbol for people who feel attraction to individuals who are gender-fluid, gender-non-conforming, and non-binary. Its different colored stripes represent the following:

• Yellow: Gender-fluid, non-binary, and non-conforming individuals.
• White: Individuals who feel attraction to all genders, regardless of gender identity or expression.
• Purple: Love and attraction.

Abrosexual Pride Flag

The Abrosexual Pride Flag’s origin is unclear. One source says it was either created by a Tumblr user named Mod Chad for the pride flags-for-us Tumblr page or it was created in 2013 by a user of the DeviantArt website. Regardless, the flag represents those who experience a fluid or changing attraction to different genders. Its differently colored stripes represent the following:

• Pink: Varying attraction to feminine genders
• Green: Varying attraction to masculine genders
• White: Varying attraction to non-binary or non-conforming genders

The gradients between the colors represent the ever-shifting attractions between all genders.

Demisexual Pride Flag

The Demisexual Pride Flag represents individuals who feel sexual attraction only after forming a deep emotional bond or connection with another person. It’s unclear who created the flag, but it uses the same colors as the asexual flag, which was created in 2010. Its differently colored areas represent the following:

• Black: Asexuality (the absence of sexual attraction)
• Grey: Demi-sexuality
• White: Sexuality
• Purple: Community

Demiromantic Pride Flag

The Demiromantic Pride Flag was created and posted on March 9, 2015 by Tumblr user @QueerAsCat to represent individuals who feel romantic attraction only after forming a deep emotional bond or connection with another person. Its differently colored areas represent the following:

• Black: The entire romantic spectrum
• White: Queer/quasi-platonic relationships and platonic/aesthetic attraction
• Gray: Gray-romance (experiencing some level of romantic attraction under specific circumstances)
• Green: Aromanticism (the absence of romantic attraction)

Asexual Pride Flag

The Asexual Pride Flag was created in 2010 by a member of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), known as “standup.” AVEN chose the flag after three rounds of member voting that included members of the asexual community. Its stripes represent the following:

• Black: Asexuality (the absence of sexual attraction)
• Gray: Gray-asexuality (experiencing some level of sexual attraction under specific circumstances)
• White: Sexuality and sexual attraction
• Purple: Community and the joining together of asexual individuals

Aromantic Pride Flag

The aromantic pride flag was designed by a Tumblr user named Cameron in 2014 to represent people who do not feel romantic attraction to others. Its stripes represent the following:

• Dark green: Aromantic Individuality, growth, and independence
• Light green: The range of aromantic experiences, identities, feelings, and perspectives on romantic attraction
• White: Aromance (a lack of romantic interest in others)
• Gray: Grey-romance (experiencing some level of romantic attraction under specific circumstances)
• Black: Romance (those who experience romantic attraction to aromantic people)

Genderqueer Pride Flag

The Genderqueer Pride Flag was created by designer Marilyn Roxie and its final version was unveiled in June 2011, according to GenderQueerId.com. Its color stripes represent different parts of the genderqueer community:

• Lavender: Androgynous and queer individuals
• White: Agender and nonbinary individuals
• Green: Individuals who identify outside of or without reference to the binary

Nonbinary Pride Flag

The nonbinary pride flag was designed by Kye Rowan in 2014 to represent people whose gender identity doesn’t exclusively align with the male-female gender binary. Its stripes represent the following:

• Yellow: genders outside of the binary
• White: Multiple and fluid genders
• Purple: A combination of masculine and feminine gender expression (or a rejection of them altogether)
• Black: Agender identities (those who feel their gender undefined, neutral, or nonexistent)

Ally Pride Flag

It’s unclear who created the Ally Pride flag, though it has been in use since the early 2000s. The black and white stripe background represents the heterosexual and cisgender community. The “A” shape stands for “ally,” it is rainbow-colored to represent allies’ support of LGBTQ+ people, and the shape points upward to represent the uplift and progress of the queer community.

Polyamory Pride Flags

Several Polyamory Pride Flags have been created over the years to represent individuals who engage in consensual, ethical non-monogamous relationships involving multiple partners. The earliest known flag was created by Jim Evans in 1995. Its differently colored stripes represent the following:

• Blue: Openness, honesty, communication, and transparency among all partners across multiple relationships.
• Red: Love, passion, and the deep emotional and affectionate connections and affection between polyamorous partners.
• Black: Solidarity, inclusivity, stigma and challenges faced by polyamorous individuals in a hetero-monogamo-centric culture.

Designs of the flag have included the symbol for “pi,” a Greek letter that represents a never-ending number in mathematics, and a heart with an infinity symbol inside of it to represent the infinite capability of love. These symbols are displayed in a gold color to represent energy and perseverance, PolyAmProud.com reports.

The aforementioned site released a tri-color version of the flag designed by Red Howell. Howell’s version has a white chevron representing “the blank canvas upon which every non-monogamous person creates and develops their individual relationships.” The chevron points rightward to signal “hope for the future of the polyamorous and non-monogamous community” and “sits asymmetrically on the flag to reflect the non-traditional style of polyamorous relationships.”

Howell’s design also includes purple to represent a united non-monogamous community, including historically “unacknowledged, suppressed, ridiculed, or erased” non-monogamous practices by people of color and Indigenous people.

Bear Brotherhood Pride Flag

The Bear Brotherhood Flag was created by Craig Byrnes and Paul Witzkoske in 1995 as a way to represent hairy and large-bodied men. Its colors denote the different colors of bear fur throughout the world. The paw in the upper left corner denotes the “bear” identity taken by hairy and large-bodied queer men.

Leather Pride Flag

The Leather Pride flag was designed by Tony DeBlase in 1989 for the International Mr. Leather (IML) contest. It represents the leather and bondage-domination-submission-masochism (BDSM) communities. Its differently colored stripes represent the following:

• Black: The traditional color of leather fetish gear as well as the physical and sexual aspects of the subculture
• Blue: The “true” or “authentic” loyalty and dedication to BDSM and leather principles and traditions
• White: Purity and innocence and spiritual and ethical practices of the subculture
• Red: A heart representing the affection, passion, love, and care that the community has for its members and others

Leather Boy/Girl Pride Flags

The Pride Flags for Leather Boys and Girls represent younger people in the leather and BDSM subcultures. The origin of the flags is unclear. Their different colors represent the following:

• Black: The traditional color of leather fetish gear as well as the physical and sexual aspects of the subculture
• Green or Pink: Masculinity and boyhood or femininity and girlhood, respectively.
• White: Purity and innocence and spiritual and ethical practices of the subculture
• Red: A heart representing the affection, passion, love, and care that the community has for its members and others

Straight Pride Flags

So-called “Straight Pride Flags” are either displayed ironically, highlighting their gray and boring colors (in contrast to vibrant LGBTQ+ Pride flags), or they’re displayed by anti-LGBTQ+ activists to show a mocking Pride in being heterosexual and cisgender. Cis male transphobes recently unveiled a “Super Straight Pride Flag,” which they say signals their exclusive sexual and romantic attraction to cisgender women.

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