Black and Brown Represents People of Color The Philadelphia Pride Flag was designed by the Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs and was done in partnership with advertising agency Tierney. Both of these flags inspired the design of the new pride flag. Popularity spiked again a decade later when a West Hollywood resident sued his landlord over the right to hang his flag outside his residence. or LGBTQ pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and. The trans flag, created in 1999, is pink, baby blue, and white. After the assassination of Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978, demand for the rainbow banner only increased. Baker then took the design to Paramount Flag Company, which sold a version of the flag without hot pink and turquoise, which were replaced with blue for practicality purposes. It was first showcased at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978.Īfter the design was unveiled, participants of the parade proudly waved the new symbol in solidarity. With the help of close to 30 volunteers working in the attic of the Gay Community Center in San Francisco, Baker was able to construct the first draft of the now world-renowned rainbow flag. At the top was hot pink, which represented sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow signifying sunlight, green for nature, turquoise to represent art, indigo for harmony, and finally violet at the bottom for spirit. The original flag featured eight colors, each having a different meaning. And because many people belong to both communities, they’re not two distinct causes but instead overlap.The different colors within the flag were meant to represent togetherness, since LGBT people come in all races, ages and genders, and rainbows are both natural and beautiful. 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. COVID 19 Message LGBTQ+ Pride, Trans Pride, Bisexual Pride Pansexual Pride - Pink, Yellow, Blue, Nonbinary Pride - Yellow, White, Purple, Black, Gender Queer. 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.