Have you ever wondered what your Pride flag is? In the inclusive spirit of Pride, there’s one for everyone. There are so many, in fact, that it would be impossible to include them all on this list, but we have done our best to put together a guide of common flags you can expect to see at your local Pride events this summer.
Here are 10 Pride flags and their meanings.
Gilbert Baker Pride Flag
Artist and Activist Gilbert Baker was commissioned to create a symbol for the gay community by LGBTQ+ hero Harvey Milk, and so the very first Pride Flag was developed.
It debuted at the San Francisco Freedom Day Parade in June 1978, and each colour was selected with a chosen meaning behind it: Pink: Sex, Red: Life, Orange: Healing, Yellow: Sunlight, Green: Nature, Turquoise: Magic/Art, Indigo: Serenity, Violet: Spirit.
Traditional Gay Pride Flag
This is the Pride Flag we have all come to know and love. Due to a fabric shortage, the pink stripe was removed in 1978, and although it’s unclear why, the turquoise stripe also suffered the same fate a year later in 1979.
The rainbow-striped flag remained the same from this point.
Progress Pride Flag
This flag was introduced in 2018 and has become more widely used in recent years because it’s a more inclusive interpretation of the Traditional Gay Pride Flag.
The white, blue, and pink stripes have been added to include transgender people, and the brown and black stripes represent queer people of colour and those who have been lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. forward, and is still easily recognisable today.
Lesbian Pride Flag
Although there are multiple variations of the Lesbian Pride flag, this one is the most widely recognised.
The flag features seven different shades of pink, orange, white and red that were selected to recognise femininity and its existence as a spectrum.
Bisexual Pride Flag
This flag was designed by Michael Page in 1998 as a physical representation of the Bisexual community. The colours have different meanings.
Pink represents attraction to the same sex, blue to the opposite sex and the purple stripe is used to symbolise a general attraction to both sexes.
Pansexual Pride Flag
The pansexual flag was created in 2010 to increase the visibility of pansexual people.
It was created to differentiate from Bisexuality, and in this case, pink is used to reflect an attraction to people who identify as women, blue for those who identify as men, and yellow signals an attraction to those outside of the male-female binary, e.g., genderqueer, nonbinary, agender.
Asexual Pride flag
The Asexual Pride flag was also introduced in 2010.
The black stripe represents asexuality itself, the grey stripe corresponds to graysexuality and demisexuality, the white stripe represents non-asexual partners and allies, and the purple stripe is used to depict the wider community.
Polyamorous Pride flag
This flag was created by Jim Evans in 1995 to represent the polyamorous community.
The yellow pi symbol demonstrates the unlimited coupling options available for polyamorous couples, and once again, the colours selected all have different meanings.
Blue is for honesty, red is for passion, and black is for solidarity with those who feel the need to hide that side of themselves.
Intersex Pride Flag
Created in 2013 by the then co-chair of Intersex Human Rights Australia, Morgan Carpenter, because they didn’t feel that the symbols available for intersex people at the time truly encompassed what it is.
Yellow and purple are used here because they are gender neutral colours.
Transgender Pride Flag
Made in 1999 by Monica Helms and introduced at Phoenix Pride Parade a year later, the Transgender Pride Flag uses light blue and pink as they are associated with newborn boys and girls, and the white stripe reflects individuals who are intersex, transitioning or undefined.
Did you find your Pride flag? There are so many additional flags to choose from that we haven’t been able to include them all on this list, so if you haven’t found yours yet, fear not; it’s probably still out there. Happy Pride Month, everyone!
Written by Leah Marie Cox
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