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Pride flag

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A collection of pride flags hanging in London's Leadenhall Market
Part of the LGBT series
LGBT symbols
      
Symbols
Pride flags

A pride flag is any flag that represents a segment or part of the LGBT community. Pride in this case refers to the notion of gay pride. The terms LGBT flag and queer flag are often used interchangeably.[1]

The rainbow flag is the most widely used LGBT flag and LGBT symbol in general. There are derivations of the rainbow flag that are used to focus attention on specific similar-interest groups within the community (for example, leather subculture). There are also some pride flags that are not exclusively related to LGBT matters, such as the polyamory flag.

Notable examples

Rainbow

Main article: Rainbow flag (LGBT)

Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow pride flag for the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day celebration. The flag was designed as a "symbol of hope" and liberation, and an alternative to the symbolism of the pink triangle.[2] The flag does not depict an actual rainbow. Rather, the colors of the rainbow are displayed as horizontal stripes, with red at the top and violet at the bottom. It represents the diversity of gays and lesbians around the world. In the original eight-color version, pink stood for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.[3] A copy of the original 20-by-30 foot, eight-color flag was made by Baker in 2000 and was installed in the Castro district in San Francisco.[4] Many variations on the rainbow flag exist, including ones incorporating other LGBT symbols like the triangle or lambda.[5]

  • Original eight-stripe version designed by Gilbert Baker (1978)
    Original eight-stripe version designed by Gilbert Baker (1978)
  • Seven-stripe version with hot pink color removed due to a lack of fabric (1978–1979)
    Seven-stripe version with hot pink color removed due to a lack of fabric (1978–1979)
  • Six-stripe version with turquoise color removed and indigo color changed to royal blue (1979–present)
    Six-stripe version with turquoise color removed and indigo color changed to royal blue (1979–present)

Aromanticism

Aromantic flag

The aromantic pride flag consists of five horizontal stripes, which, from top to bottom, are: green, light green, white, gray, and black. In this order, the stripes represent aromanticism, the aromantic spectrum, aesthetic attraction, gray-aromantic and demiromantic people, and the sexuality spectrum.[6][additional citation(s) needed]

Asexuality

Black, gray, white, purple stripes
Asexual flag

The asexual pride flag consists of four horizontal stripes: black, gray, white, and purple from top to bottom.[7][8][page needed] The flag was created by an Asexual Visibility and Education Network user standup in August 2010, as part of a community effort to create and choose a flag.[9][unreliable source?] The black stripe represents asexuality; the gray stripe represents gray-asexuals and demisexuals; the white stripe represents allies; and the purple stripe represents community.[10][11]

Bear culture

Main article: Bear flag (gay culture)
Bear Brotherhood flag
Bear flag

Bear is an affectionate gay slang term for those in the bear communities, a subculture in the gay community and an emerging subset of the LGBT community with its own events, codes, and a culture-specific identity. Bears tend to have hairy bodies and facial hair; some are heavy-set; some project an image of working-class masculinity in their grooming and appearance, though none of these are requirements or unique indicators. The bear concept can function as an identity, an affiliation, and an ideal to live up to. There is ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitutes a bear. Some state that self-identifying as a bear is the only requirement, while others argue that bears must have certain physical characteristics, such as a hairy chest and face, a large body, or a certain mode of dress and behavior.

Bears are almost always gay or bisexual men; transgender men attracted to other men are increasingly included within bear communities.[12] The bear community has spread all over the world, with bear clubs in many countries. Bear clubs often serve as social and sexual networks for older, hairier, sometimes heavier gay and bisexual men, and members often contribute to their local gay communities through fundraising and other functions. Bear events are common in heavily gay communities.

The International Bear Brotherhood Flag was designed in 1995 by Craig Byrnes.[13]

Bisexuality

Main article: Bisexual flag
Magenta, lavender, and blue stripes
Bisexual flag

Introduced on December 5, 1998,[14] the bisexual pride flag was designed by activist Michael Page to represent and increase the visibility of bisexual people in the LGBT community and society as a whole. Page chose a combination of Pantone Matching System (PMS) colors magenta (pink), lavender (purple), and royal (blue).[14] The finished rectangular flag consists of a broad pink stripe at the top, a broad stripe in blue at the bottom, and a narrow purple stripe in the center.

Page described the meaning of the colors as, "The pink color represents sexual attraction to the same sex only (gay and lesbian), the blue represents sexual attraction to the opposite sex only (straight) and the resultant overlap color purple represents sexual attraction to both sexes (bi)."[14] He also described the flag's meaning in deeper terms, stating "The key to understanding the symbolism in the Bi Pride Flag is to know that the purple pixels of color blend unnoticeably into both the pink and blue, just as in the 'real world' where bi people blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight communities."[14]

The blue and pink overlapping triangle symbol represents bisexuality and bisexual pride. The origin of the symbol, sometimes facetiously referred to as the "biangles", is largely unknown; however, some postulations describe the colors as "pink represents attraction to women and the blue attraction to men, or the pink represents homosexuality, the blue heterosexuality and the purple bisexuality."[10]

Intersex

Main article: Intersex flag
A yellow background with a purple circle in the middle, representing intersex people.
Intersex flag

The intersex flag was created by Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia in July 2013 to create a flag "that is not derivative, but is yet firmly grounded in meaning". The organization describes the circle as "unbroken and unornamented, symbolising wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities. We are still fighting for bodily autonomy and genital integrity, and this symbolises the right to be who and how we want to be".[15][16][17]

Lesbian

Main article: Lesbian flags

No single flag design for a lesbian pride flag has been widely adopted.[18] However, many popular ones exist.

The labrys lesbian flag was created in 1999 by graphic designer Sean Campbell, and published in June 2000 in the Palm Springs edition of the Gay and Lesbian Times Pride issue.[11][18][19] The design involves a labrys, a type of double-headed axe, superimposed on the downward-pointing black triangle, set against a violet background. Among its functions, the labrys was associated as a weapon used by the Amazons of mythology.[20][21] In the 1970s it was adopted as a symbol of empowerment by the lesbian feminist community.[22][23] The Third Reich did not systematically persecute lesbian women and lesbianism was not illegal under the Nazi regime[24]. Nonetheless, lesbians were often harassed and some women arrested for their racial, religious, or political identities also had their sexuality noted in their paperwork demonstrating that it could be taken as a secondary factor in their arrest and incarceration[24]. Lesbians wore the symbol of the group they were primarily identified with in their arrest; for instance, a yellow star for Jewish people or a downward-pointing black triangle badge for political dissidents[25]. Some lesbians reclaimed the black triangle as gay men reclaimed the pink triangle (many lesbians also claimed the pink triangle although lesbians were not included in Paragraph 175 of the German criminal code).[25] The color violet became associated with lesbians via the poetry of Sappho.[26]

The lipstick lesbian flag[27] was introduced in 2010 in the weblog This Lesbian Life.[28][29][30] The flag represents "homosexual women who have a more feminine gender expression".[31] The seven colors of the "pink" lesbian flag were copied from the lipstick lesbian flag[30] (as a consequence, it has been mischaracterized as another version of the lipstick flag).[29] The credit for the modification of the lipstick flag remains unknown; however, the colors-only adaptation attracted more use as a general lesbian pride flag.[32]

A new lesbian flag modeled after the seven-band "pink" flag was introduced on Tumblr in 2018, with colors dark orange representing "gender non-conformity", orange for "independence", light orange for "community", white for "unique relationships to womanhood", pink for "serenity and peace", dusty pink for "love and sex", and dark rose for "femininity".[33] A five-stripes version was soon derived from the 2018 colors.[34] In 2020, controversy arose over who had actually introduced an orange-pink lesbian flag.[35][better source needed] Some popular sources claim Tumblr blogger Emily Gwen as its creator. [36]

  • Labrys lesbian flag, created in 1999
    Labrys lesbian flag, created in 1999
  • Lesbian flag, colors copied from the 2010 lipstick lesbian flag
    Lesbian flag, colors copied from the 2010 lipstick lesbian flag
  • Lesbian flag, created in 2018
    Lesbian flag, created in 2018
  • Five-stripes version of the 2018 flag
    Five-stripes version of the 2018 flag

Non-binary

Yellow, white, light purple, and black stripes.
Non-binary flag

The non-binary pride flag was created in 2014 by activist Kye Rowan.[37] Each stripe color represents different types of non-binary identities: Yellow for people who identify outside of the gender binary, white for nonbinary people with multiple genders, purple for those with a mixture of both male and female genders, and black for agender individuals.[38]

Under the non-binary umbrella are all those people who identify off the gender binary. There are many different identities within this category including androgyny, genderqueerness (which includes agender, ceterosexual,[39] genderfluid, intergender, among others), third gender, and transgender.[40][41]

Pansexuality

Main article: Pansexual flag
Pink, yellow, and light blue stripes.
Pansexual flag

The pansexual pride flag was introduced in October 2010 in a Tumblr blog ("Pansexual Pride Flag").[42] It has three horizontal bars that are pink, yellow and blue.[42][43][44][unreliable source?] "The pink represents being attracted to women, the blue being attracted to men, and the yellow for being attracted to everyone else";[clarification needed][42] such as non-binary gender identities.[44][10][45][46]

Transgender

Main article: Transgender flag
Transgender flag

The transgender pride flag was designed by transgender woman Monica Helms in 1999.[47] It was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, US, in 2000.[48] It was flown from a large public flagpole in San Francisco's Castro District beginning November 19, 2012, in commemoration of the Transgender Day of Remembrance.[48] The flag represents the transgender community and consists of five horizontal stripes: two light blue, two pink, with a white stripe in the center. Helms described the meaning of the flag as follows:

The stripes at the top and bottom are light blue, the traditional color for baby boys. The stripes next to them are pink, the traditional color for baby girls.[48] The white stripe is for people that are nonbinary, feel that they don't have a gender.[49][50] The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives.[48]

Philadelphia became the first county government in the United States to raise the transgender pride flag in 2015. It was raised at City Hall in honor of Philadelphia's 14th Annual Trans Health Conference, and remained next to the US and City of Philadelphia flags for the entirety of the conference. Then-Mayor Michael Nutter gave a speech in honor of the trans community's acceptance in Philadelphia.[51]

Gallery

These flags represent various sexual orientations, romantic orientations, gender identities, subcultures, and regional purposes, as well as the LGBT community as a whole.

Location-based flags

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LGBT pride flags by country.

References

  1. ^ Sobel, Ariel (June 13, 2018). "The Complete Guide to Queer Pride Flags". The Advocate. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Rainbow Flag: Origin Story". Gilbert Baker Foundation. 2018. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018.
  3. ^ "Symbols of Pride of the LGBTQ Community". Carleton College. April 26, 2005. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  4. ^ Rochman, Sue (June 20, 2000). "Rainbow flap". The Advocate. p. 16. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  5. ^ Riffenburg, Charles Edward IV (2004). "Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements". Queer Resources Directory. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
  6. ^ Gillespie, Claire. "22 Different Pride Flags and What They Represent in the LGBTQ+ Community". Health.com. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  7. ^ Bilić, Bojan; Kajinić, Sanja (2016). Intersectionality and LGBT Activist Politics: Multiple Others in Croatia and Serbia. Springer. pp. 95–96.
  8. ^ Decker, Julie. The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality. Skyhorse.
  9. ^ "The Asexuality Flag". Asexuality Archive. 20 February 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Petronzio, Matt (June 13, 2014). "A Storied Glossary of Iconic LGBT Flags and Symbols (Gallery)". Mashable. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  11. ^ a b Sobel, Ariel (June 13, 2018). "The Complete Guide to Queer Pride Flags". The Advocate. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  12. ^ Barucco, Renato. "Transgender People: Strangers in Gay Land". Huffpost. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  13. ^ bearmfg (December 31, 2004). "History of the Bear Flag!". WebRing. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  14. ^ a b c d Page, Michael (2001). "History of the Bi Pride Flag". BiFlag.com. Archived from the original on August 1, 2001. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  15. ^ Carpenter, Morgan (July 5, 2013). "An intersex flag". Intersex Human Rights Australia. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  16. ^ Yu, Ming (11 July 2013). "Are you male, female or intersex?". Amnesty International. Archived from the original on September 23, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  17. ^ Busby, Cec (28 October 2013). "Intersex advocates address findings of Senate Committee into involuntary sterilisation". Gay News Network. Archived from the original on January 15, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  18. ^ a b c d Bendix, Trish (September 8, 2015). "Why don't lesbians have a pride flag of our own?". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
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  24. ^ a b "Lesbians and the Third Reich". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
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  26. ^ Prager, Sarah (January 29, 2020). "Four Flowering Plants That Have Been Decidedly Queered (Sapphic Violets)". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  27. ^ McCray, Natalie (July 2010). "LLFlag". This Lesbian Life. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016.
  28. ^ McCray, Natalie (July 28, 2010). "Lipstick Lesbian Pride!!!". This Lesbian Life. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
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  35. ^ Chris 🌟🔥 #bIm [@Catastrfy] (June 27, 2020). "does this work for you? i know from my notes that i used the butch/femme bright saturated pinks to make the violet lesbian flag, and i have a violet file dated 6 mar 16. but what i can actually FIND is this 1000x1000 px button file for the butch/femme flag dated 8 mar 2016" (Tweet). Retrieved July 2, 2020 – via Twitter.
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