Happy Pride month: What do the colours in the Pride flag mean and what is the history of the rainbow flag?

Waving rainbow flags
Waving rainbow flags (Picture: Getty)

Happy Pride month to everyone in the LGBTQ+ community! June has long been the month for celebrating Pride, as the Stonewall Riots kicked off on June 28 in 1969, lasting several days and spearheading the demand for equality.

This year’s Pride might look a little different because of coronavirus, but Pride is a state of being, not one parade, and there are plenty of ways to incorporate Pride into your social distancing.

During this unique Pride, you can still find ways to celebrate online or spend some time learning about the history of the struggle, and pioneers like Marsha P. Johnson.  

The community today owes a debt to those who came before, and the history of the fight for Equal Rights is long and tumultuous.

Even the adoption of the rainbow flag has significance…

Who came up with Rainbow Flag as a symbol of gay pride?

The first Rainbow Flag made as a symbol of gay pride was introduced by Gilbert Baker, an artist living in San Francisco.

Baker was friends with Harvey Milk, the political trailblazer who was the first openly gay elected official and who was later assassinated.

The pair, along with writer Cleve Jones, wanted to come up with a new emblem of hope for the community, replacing the pink triangle some wore.

The pink triangle had a dark history that some in the LGBT community tried to reclaim – homosexuals were made to wear pink triangles to identify themselves under Nazi rule.

Male Concentration Camp Prisoners
Homosexual prisoners at the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany, wearing pink triangles on their uniforms, are marched outdoors by Nazi guards on December 19, 1938 (Picture: © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

For the new emblem of the community, the idea came to Gilbert Baker at a party.

In Baker’s memoir, Rainbow Warrior, he wrote: ‘The crowd was as much a part of the show as the band. Everyone was there…. North beach beatniks… bored bikers in black leather, lithe girls in belly-dance get-ups, pink haired punks… muscle gayboys… butch dykes in blue jeans and fairies of all genders… we were all in a swirl of colour and light. It was like a rainbow.’

What do the colours in the Rainbow Flag mean?

Once inspiration struck, Baker wanted to give this new rainbow meaning.

The first rainbow flag had eight colours – hot pink, red, orange, yellow, green, turquoise, indigo, violet.

The meanings assigned to these were:

  • Hot pink  – sex
  • Red – life
  • Orange – healing
  • Yellow – sunlight
  • Green – nature
  • Turquoise – magic and art
  • Indigo – serenity
  • Violet – spirit

As the flag has evolved, some of the colours have changed.

Hot pink has gone, so no more sex (sorry LGBTQ+ folk…)

In reality, hot pink was simply too hard to mass produce for the flag material).

Since 2017, when the Philadelphia People of Colour Inclusive Flag was introduced, the flag has eight colours again:

  • Red – life
  • Orange – healing
  • Yellow – sunlight
  • Green – nature
  • Blue – harmony
  • Violet – spirit
  • Black – reflecting the black LGBTQ+
  • Brown – reflecting other LGBTQ+ POC

What do the other LGBTQ+ flags mean?

The rainbow flag is not the only flag representing the queer community today.

Progress pride flag
(Picture: Kickstarter/danielquasar)

Progress Pride Flag

This flag was created in 2018 by Daniel Quasar in response to Philly’s updated pride flag. It combines the colors and stripes from Philly’s version of the pride flag and the colors of the transgender pride flag.

Young man with the bisexual flag
(Picture: Getty Images/Cavan Images RF)

Bisexual Pride Flag

The bisexual pride flag was designed by Michael Page in 1998 in order for more visibility for the bi members of the community.

Pansexual Pride Flag
(Picture: Wikipedia/archive of pansexualflag.tumblr.com)

Pansexual Pride Flag

It isn’t known when this was officially designed or introduced, but it has been claimed as a pride flag for pansexuals – people who have sexual attractions and relationships with people of different genders and sexualities.

Lesbian Pride Flag
(Picture: Getty)

Lesbian Pride Flag

This version of the flag is now the more commonly-used iteration, though it is an update on a previous version.

lipstick lesbian flag
(Picture: Pride/This Lesbian Life)

Lipstick Lesbian Pride Flag

This was actually the original pride flag for lesbians, but the lipstick mark was taken off after some conflict within the community and whether original artist had made disparaging remarks about bisexuals and transgendered people.

Some still use this flag to represent ‘lipstick’ lesbians – aka feminine lesbians.

Asexual flag
(Picture: asexualityarchive.com)

Asexual Pride Flag

This flag was created in 2010 to help create awareness to the Asexual community – people who feel no sexual attractions.

Intersex flag
(Picture: ihra.org.au)

Intersex Pride Flag

Intersex is a term for those whose bodies do not align with the gender binary of male and female. Intersex people might have both sets of genitals, various combinations of chromosomes or other differences.

This flag was created in 2013 by Morgan Carpenter.

Transgender Pride Flag
(Picture: Getty)

Trans Pride Flag

Created by transgender woman Monica Helms in 1999, Pride.com quotes her as saying: ‘The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it will always be correct. This symbolizes us trying to find correctness in our own lives.’

genderqueer flag
(Picture: Marilyn Roxie)

Genderqueer Pride Flag

Genderqueer people do not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identify with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders.

The flag was created by Marilyn Roxie in 2011, according to Pride.

gender fluid flag
(Picture: outrightinternational.org)

Gender fluid Pride Flag

People who are gender fluid don’t identify with one gender, but rather their gender identity shifts between the spectrum.

It is not fixed, and can shift as often as each individual decides.

The flag was created by JJ Poole in 2012.

agender flag
(Picture: Wikimedia Commons)

Agender Pride Flag

Agender people don’t identify as any gender.

The flag was created in 2014 by Salem X.

Non-binary flag
(Picture: outrightinternational.org)

Non-binary Pride Flag

Similar to being genderqueer or genderfluid, non-binary people’s gender can fluctuate.

This pride flag was created in 2014 by Kye Rowan for non-binary people who didn’t feel the genderqueer flag represents them, as the term ‘queer’ has been used as a slur in the past.

Leather, Latex, & BDSM Flag
(Picture: Pride/Tony DeBlase)

Leather, Latex, & BDSM Flag

Fairly self-explanatory, this was made by Tony DeBlase in 1989 and is a flag for those who are not ashamed of their kinks – and why should they be?

Bear Pride Flag
(Picture: Pride/Craig Byrnes)

Bear Brotherhood Flag

Craig Byrnes designed this in 1995 for the International Bear Brotherhood, a community of heavier-set, hairy gay men.

MORE: Google’s spreadsheet app has a hidden hack for Pride Month

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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/13/happy-pride-month-what-colours-pride-flag-mean-what-history-rainbow-flag-12847597/
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