It first flew in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. The original gay-pride flag was hand-dyed by Baker. There was some use of similar multi-colored flags in the USA in the early 1970s as a symbol of internationalism and unity of all people of earth, but by the end of the 1970s the rainbow flag's connection with gay pride became generally known in the United States. It is most commonly flown with the red stripe on top, as the colors appear in a natural rainbow. The rainbow flag was first used to symbolize gay pride and diversity by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker as of 2003, it currently consists of six colored stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. It originated in the United States, but is now used around the world. The colors symbolize gay pride and gay rights. It's hard to imagine a world without the famous rainbow flag-and thanks to Gilbert Baker, we don't have to.The rainbow flag, sometimes called the freedom flag, has been used as a symbol of gay and lesbian pride since the 1980s. Flags-whether national or otherwise-unite people under a common identity and give them a sense of belonging.
They are universal symbols of inclusion and welcome. There are variations of many of these flags made by different creators and there are other flags that stray away from only colored horizontal stripes.Įach of the dozens of pride flags give the person who waves it a sense that they are part of a community that proudly celebrates who they. Transgender - light blue, light pink, and white
Nonbinary - yellow, white, purple, and black Lesbian - dark orange, light orange, white, light pink, and dark pink Genderfluid - pink, white, purple, black, and blue Here are just a few of the pride colors of those striped flags:Īromantic - green, light green, white, gray, and black Most of the others were created in the 2010s with their own horizontal stacked colored stripes.
Notably, the bisexual pride flag was created in 1998 and the transgender pride flag was created in 1999. The first new flags separate from the rainbow were created by different individual activists and community members in the 1990s. The original rainbow flag was created primarily with gay people in mind and there are people of many more identities now included in the community. There are more than 30 other pride flags for different identities within the LGBTQ+ community. Are There Other Pride Flags Beside the Rainbow? While different LGBTQ+ community members use different flags and have different opinions on the flag variations, the standard six-color flag is still widely used. In June 2018, Daniel Quasar created the Progress Pride Flag that includes a triangle of black and brown as well as white, pink, and blue stripes for transgender inclusion. In June 2017, the city of Philadelphia raised a new flag with the colors black and brown added on above the red stripe to represent the inclusion of people of color. The six-color version remained untouched for decades and is still a standard around the world.
Related: This Company Brings the Pride Celebration Directly to Your Door What Do the New Variations Of the Rainbow Flag Mean? The six-color flag (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet) has been popular since 1979. The flag design was changed again in 1979 when turquoise was eliminated to give the flag an even number of colors. Hot pink was soon dropped because it wasn't commercially available as production ramped up. What Did the Original Colors Mean?īaker's original flag contained eight colors, a specific meaning associated with each. Baker, who passed away in 2017, did not copyright the flag and its use took off around the world. This first flag was unveiled at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. Baker, along with several volunteers, created the original eight-color rainbow flags by hand-dyeing strips of fabric.