Rainbow Flag History

The Gilbert Baker Design

In 1978 artist Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man designed the first rainbow flag, Gilbert Baker revelled he was urged to design the flag by Harvey Milk one of the first openly gay elected officials in the US, to create a symbol of pride for the community,  Baker decided to make that symbol a flag because he saw flags as the most powerful symbol of Pride.

Gilbert was inspired by the lyrics of Judy Garland`s over the rainbow, and the designs used by other social movements such as black civil rights groups from the 1960`s , baker hand dyed the fabrics and hand sowed the flag together, which then first flew at San Francisco Gay Freedom Day in June 1978

Each colour stands for a different part of the community.

Hot Pink – Sex

Red – Life

Orange – Healing

Yellow – Sunlight

Green – Serenity and Nature

Turquoise – Art

Indigo – Harmony

Violet – Spirit

The 1978-1979 Seven Stripe Pride Flag

Following the assassination of Harvey Milk in 1978, many people and organisations adopted the Pride flag that he helped to introduce to the community. To commemorate his accomplishments and continue his efforts of equality and diversity, the flag was flown across San Francisco and entered mass production by the original designer, Gilbert Baker, and local business Paramount Flag Co.

The demand was so great for a rainbow striped flag, it was impossible for the 8-stripe design to be made in large quantities. Both Paramount and Baker struggled to obtain the hot pink fabric and so began manufacturing a 7-stripe version.

The Traditional 6 Stripe Pride Flag

In 1979 the design was amended again. The community finalised this six-colour version and this is now the most familiar and recognisable design for the LGBT flag. Numerous complications over the odd number of stripes, including the desire to split the flag to decorate Pride parades, meant that one colour had to be dropped.

The turquoise and indigo stripes were combined to create a royal blue stripe and it was agreed that the flag should typically be flown horizontally, with red at the top, as it would be in a natural rainbow. This design continued to increase in popularity around the world, being a focal point of landmark decisions such as John Stout fighting for his right to fly the flag from his apartment balcony in 1989.

The Philadelphia 2017 Design

Recognising that people of colour are often not fully included by LGBTQ+ people, and often face further discrimination from within the community, the city of Philadelphia adopted an additional 2 stripes to the Pride flag. Black and brown were added at the top of the flag to represent the struggles and prejudices that queer people of colour face regularly.

Some activists and organisations criticised this redesign and believed that it created more unnecessary division within the community. Pride festivals across the world, including Manchester – United Kingdom, adopted the design in a bid to promote inclusion in the LGBTQ+ community, particularly after a 2018 study showed that 51% of BAME LGBTQ+ people have experienced racism within the gay community.

The Progress Pride Flag

In June 2018, designer and activist Daniel Quasar released an updated version of the Pride flag. Combining the new elements of the Philadelphia design and the Transgender flag to bring focus on further inclusion and progress. This new flag added a chevron to the hoist of the traditional 6-colour flag which represents marginalised LGBTQ+ communities of colour, those living with HIV/AIDS and those who’ve been lost, and trans and non-binary persons.

This design went viral and was quickly adopted by people and pride parades across the world. The arrow of the chevron points to the right to show forward movement, while being on the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made for full equality, especially for the communities the chevron represents.

The Intersex Inclusive Progress Pride Flag

In 2021, Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK adapted the Pride Progress flag design to incorporate the intersex flag, creating the Intersex-Inclusive Pride flag 2021.

The intersex community uses the colours purple and yellow as an intentional counterpoint to blue and pink, which have traditionally been seen as binary, gendered colours. The symbol of the circle represents the concept of being unbroken and being whole, symbolising the right of Intersex people to make decisions about their own bodies.

Since its introduction in 2021, intersex people and allies from all over the globe have said it is bringing them joy to see intersex inclusion in the Pride Progress flag.