Learn about the history and meaning of 17 LGBTQ pride flags (2024)

When most people picture the Pride flag, they think of the iconic rainbow flag adorned with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet stripes.

What you may not know is that this flag only became the standard Pride flag in 1979 — or that there are a plethora of other flags that represent the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.

When you attend a Pride event this June, you’ll see a variety of colorful flags. Some members of the LGBTQ+ community have created flags that represent specific sexual or gender orientations under the LGBTQ+ umbrella.

Each color, pattern, and design has its own specific meaning: for instance, the Philly Pride flag has two extra stripes, one black and one brown, to highlight people of color in the LGBTQ+ community.

The transgender flag has pink and blue stripes to represent traditionally gendered colors, as well as a white line that stands for people who identify as intersex, are transitioning, or don't identify with a specific gender.

These flags are a crucial part of Pride celebrations. They allow many members of the LGBTQ+ community to honor their unique identities and find solidarity and inspiration with others.

Here, we’re taking a deep dive into 17 flags you should know for Pride Month and beyond. Keep an eye out for these unique flags at your local Pride parade, or joyfully wave your own high.

Original pride flag

The first rainbow pride flag was designed by Gilbert Baker and unveiled during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day on June 25, 1978. This flag contained hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, blue and violet stripes, with Baker assigning meaning to each color.

Hot pink correlated to sex, red to life, orange to healing, yellow to sunlight, green to nature, turquoise to magic, indigo to serenity and purple to spirit.

Seven-colored pride flag

Baker explained on his website that just months after the flag was flown for the first time in San Francisco, demand increased following the assassination of Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978.

In order to meet the demand, a version of the flag with only seven of the original eight colors was produced sincehot pink stock fabricwas unavailable at the time.

Six-colored pride flag

The rainbow pride flag underwent another change in 1979 after it was discovered that the center stripe on the seven color flag was blocked by the lamp posts they hung from in San Francisco.

To create an even number of stripes,the turquoise stripe was dropped from the flag, leaving red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet for the iteration of the flag we widely know today.

Philly Pride flag

In June 2017, the city of Philadelphia unveiled the Philly Pride flag design, which includes two additional stripes —one black and one brown— above the existing six colors of the rainbow.

The flag was created in response to calls for inclusivity and intersectionality in the Philadelphia LGBTQ+ community. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the black and brown stripes are intended to represent the Black and Latino communities.

Today, the flag has been adopted by many across the world. Lena Waithe incorporated the flag into her Met Gala outfit in 2018.

Transgender pride flag

The firsttransgenderpride flag was designed in 1999 by activist Monica Helms to symbolize trans rights and diversity. The flag debuted in 2000 at the Pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona.

The light pink and blue stripes on the flag represent the two colors society has traditionally associated with girls and boys, with a white line to represent individuals who are intersex, transitioning, or who do not identify with a specific gender.

Progress pride flag

In 2018, nonbinary artist and designer Daniel Quasar created theprogresspride flag. According to theVictoria and Albert Museum, the flag was a redesign of the traditional pride flag to embrace the widespread diversity in the LGBTQ community and promote inclusion.

Quasar took the black and brown stripes from the Philly Pride flag and the blue, pink, and white stripes from the transgender pride flag and incorporated an arrow design on the left side of the flag to represent transgender and non-binary individuals, marginalized communities of people of color, and those who are living with AIDS or lost their lives to the disease.

Lesbian pride flag

Over the decades, multiple iterations of thelesbianpride flag have existed, according toOld Dominion University.

The first was the Labrys Lesbian Flag, which was created by Sean Campbell in 1999 and published in 2000. The flag had a purple background with an inverted black triangle and a white labrys in the center. (The labrys is an ancient double-headed axe associated with female goddesses that was later adopted by feminist groups to symbolize matriarchy.)

The most recent iteration of the lesbian pride flag was created in 2018 by Emily Gwen. This version introduced orange to the red and pink color scheme and assigned meaning to each shade in the seven line flag: dark orange for gender non-conformity, orange for independence, light orange for community, white for unique relationship to womanhood, pink for serenity and peace, dusty pink for love and sex, and dark rose for femininity.

Bisexual pride flag

On December 5, 1998, Michael Page unveiled thebisexualflag. In ablog postpublished over two decades ago, Page said his intent for the flag was to “maximize bisexual pride and visibility.”

Page chose the colors represented in the bi angles symbol (two inverted triangles in pink and blue) and landed on blue, purple, and pink stripes for the final version of the flag. Blue represents the sexual attraction to another sex, pink represents same-sex attraction, while the purple represents both same-sex and different-sex attraction.

Pansexual pride flag

Thepansexualflag, much like the bisexual and transgender flag, has three defined lines of color with different meanings.

According to theUniversity of Northern Colorado, the pink line represents attraction to individuals who identify as female, yellow for an attraction to individuals who identify as non-binary or those who do not identify on the male-female binary, and blue for the attraction to individuals who identify as male.

QPOC pride flag

The origin of thequeer people of color (QPOC)flag is unknown, but it rose to popularity in 2020 to support the Black Lives Matter movement.

According toTriPride, the flag is meant to represent the QPOC community, especially as it relates to the ties that have bound the Black and queer communities since the inception of the gay liberation movement. The flag utilizes the six stripe pride flag as the backdrop with a black circle encompassing a raised fist with six stripes in various shades of brown and white to represent the range of human skin tones.

Asexual pride flag

Theasexualpride flag was created by a member of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network in 2010. The design includes four stripes in black, gray, white, and purple, with each color holding its own meaning.

According toGrand Rapids Pride Center, the black stripe represents asexuality, gray represents the gray-area that exists between sexual and asexual, white represents sexuality, and purple represents the concept of community.

Intersex pride flag

In July 2013, Morgan Carpenter, president of Intersex Human Rights Australia, created what we now recognize as theintersexpride flag.

The flag is composed of a yellow background with a purple circle in the center. Carpenter wrote in a 2013blog postthat the colors yellow and purple were chosen due to their consistent presence as being recognized as intersex colors.

According to Carpenter, the circle symbolizes “wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities.”

Genderfluid pride flag

J.J. Poole created thegenderfluidpride flag to represent those who experience fluctuation in their gender identities.

This flag consists of five colored stripes, including pink, white, purple, black and blue.

According tothe Human Rights Campaign, pink serves as a representation of femininity, white for a lack of gender, purple as the combination between femininity and masculinity, black to represent all genders, and blue for masculinity.

Genderqueer pride flag

The genderqueer pride flag was created by Marilyn Roxie in 2011 to represent those who reject gender categories. It has three large stripes in lavender, white, and green.

Each colored stripe has its own meaning: lavender represents androgyny and other queer identities, white represents agender people, and green represents those who fall outside of the binary.

Nonbinary pride flag

Thenonbinarypride flag was designed and created by Kyle Rosa in 2014 to represent the individuals who did not feel that they were represented by the genderqueer flag, according toOutright Action International.

The flag includes four colored stripes, including yellow to represent the individuals who do not identify with a gender within the binary, white for individuals who identify as many or all genders, purple for those who identify as a combination of male and female, as well as black for those who do not identify with having a gender at all.

Two-Spirit pride flag

In Indigenous culture,Two-Spirited peopleare beings who have two spirits — one male and one female. They were seen as a third gender and respected among many areas of ancient society as healers and visionaries. Today,Two-Spirited peopleare individuals that identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other gendered individuals.

The Two-Spirit flag consists of the six stripe rainbow flag with a circle and dual-feather design. Both feathers are meant to represent the masculine and feminine identities, while the circle represents the unity between both, and the rainbow color scheme represents the modern age.

Bear pride flag

Thebearpride flag celebrates a subculture of the LGBTQ community that refers to gay or bisexual men who have facial and/or body hair and embrace masculinity and their bodies, according toMontclair State University.

The flag was designed by Craig Byrnes in 1995 with a series of neutral toned stripes in shades of brown, yellow, tan, white, gray and black adorned with a paw print in the top left corner. The colors were chosen to represent the fur colors of bear species globally to represent inclusion.

To celebrate LGBTQ pride,TODAY is sharing this community’s history, pain, joy and what’s next for the movement. We will be publishing personal essays, stories, videos and features throughout the entire month of June.