Inside the evolution of the Pride flag - where it came from and what it looks like today
As we celebrate Pride and shine a light on the ongoing activism and achievements of the LGBTQIA+ community, we take a look at the evolution and history of the Pride flag
With June marking Pride Month globally, the UK has events and marches occurring across the length and breadth of the country all month long.
Pride Month honours the legacy of the Stonewall uprising while also shining a light on the ongoing activism and achievements of the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual) community.
Evoking a sense of belonging, representation, and community, the Pride flag is a symbol of unity and empowerment. In fact, Google Trends found that ‘ Flag ’ search interest spikes every June in the UK. “progress pride flag ” is a breakout search and the top trending flag this June.
But what exactly are the origins of this world-renowned flag? Here’s a brief breakdown of the history of the Pride flag and its evolution over the decades.
Pride flag: A brief history
The 8-stripe flag was first designed by an activist from San Francisco called Gilbert Baker, whose aim was to represent the diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community through the flag. Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official, commissioned Gilbert to create a visual of pride for the gay community. With flags often being recognised as key pillars of self-identity, Gilbert’s design was then printed onto a flag.
The first iteration of the Pride flag was revealed during the Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco in 1978. Due to colour shortages however, the turquoise and pink stripes had to be removed from the flag, and the blue stripe was changed to a different shade. This is the version of the Pride flag which is world-renowned and has since served as an iconic representation and symbol of unity, freedom, and equality for the community.
The Gilbert Baker Design
READ MORE: The history of Pride month - who founded it and when was the first celebrationInspired by the lyrics of Judy Garland’s Over the Rainbow and the visual language of other civil rights movements from the 1960s by black civil rights groups, Gilbert Baker designed the Rainbow Flag. Hand-dyed and hand-sewn by him, the flag was first flown at San Francisco’s Gay Freedom Day in June 1978.
Each coloured stripe of Gilbert’s flag represents a different aspect of the LGBTQIA+ community, namely:
Hot Pink for Sex, Red for Life, Orange for Healing, Yellow for Sunlight, Green for Nature and Serenity, Turquoise for Art, Indigo for Harmony, and Violet for Spirit.
Pride Flag History from 1978 to 1999
After Harvey Milk’s assassination in 1978, several individuals and organisations chose to adopt the Pride flag introduced to the community upon his insistence. The flag was flown across San Francisco and was ordered for mass production by Gilbert, the original designer of the flag, with the help of local business Paramount Flag Co, in an effort to commemorate Harvey’s accomplishments and continue the community's fight for equality and diversity.
Demand for the rainbow-striped flag rose so high, it became impossible for the 8-stripe design to be produced in such large quantities. Gilbert and Paramount both struggled with sourcing the hot pink fabric, and so a 7-stripe version of the flag was borne and manufactured.
The Traditional Gay Pride Flag
1979 once again saw the Pride flag’s design amended — this time to a six-stripe version — after several complications arose over the odd number of stripes featured on the flag, as well as the conundrum of people wanting to split the flag in order to decorate Pride parades.
The indigo and turquoise stripes of the flag were combined to create a vivid royal blue stripe instead, and it was agreed that the flag would typically be flown horizontally, with the red stripe at the top, forming a natural rainbow. Finally landing upon a six colour version, this is the iteration of the flag the world is most familiar with.
This version of the Pride flag’s design became extremely popular globally, making it the focal point of landmark decisions like John Stout fighting for his right to fly Pride flag from his apartment’s balcony in 1989.
The 2017 Philadelphia Design
In 2017, the city of Philadelphia recognised that people of colour often face discrimination within the LGBTQIA+ community itself, and thus added an additional 2 stripes — black and brown — to the Pride flag, in an effort to represent the regular prejudices and struggles faced by queer people of colour.
While some organisations and activists criticised the new design citing unnecessary division and boundary creation within the community, Pride festivals world-over, including in Manchester, UK, decided to adopt the design in a bid to promote inclusion, especially within the community.
This came especially after a 2018 study’s finding showed that 51 per cent of BAME LGBTQIA+ individuals have faced racism within the queer community.
The Progress Pride Flag
June 2018 saw Daniel Quasar, an activist and designer, release another version of the Pride flag, which combined the new elements of the Philadelphia design with the Transgender flag in an effort to promote further progress and inclusion.
This new iteration of the flag saw a chevron added to the hoist of the traditional 6-stripe flag. The chevron represented those living with HIV/AIDS and those who have been lost, trans and non-binary persons, as well as marginalised LGBTQIA+ communities of colour.
The new design went viral and was fervently adopted by pride parades and people all over the globe. The chevron’s arrow purposefully points to the right in a means to represent forward movement and progress.
Intersex Inclusive Progress Pride Flag
In 2021, the Pride flag was once again reinvented, with Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK adapting the previous Pride Progress flag to now incorporate the intersex flag as well, thus creating the Intersex-Inclusive Pride flag of 2021.
Purple and yellow are colours used by the intersex community as an intentional counterpoint against the gender defining blue and pink that have traditionally been used for years around the world. The circle further represents the idea of being whole and unbroken, denoting the right of Intersex people to make independent decisions with regards to their own bodies.
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