Gay pride rainbow color order
The rainbow flag was created as a symbol of LGBTQIA+ pride and culture, and has since been used by millions of people around the nature to signal safety, allyship and inclusion.
More recently, variations of the rainbow flag have become popular, it can be difficult to know when to operate each one, or even which is the “correct” one to use. Our advice is to apply the flag that most aligns with your verbalization or values. If you are part of a team or organisation, formulate this decision together as a team or with your community.
To help you work through this process, here’s a run down of the most trendy flags and what they mean today.
Original Rainbow Celebration Flag
You’ll recognise this flag as the “original” rainbow pride flag. This rainbow flag serves to signal pride - or allyship - to represent the entire LGBTQIA+ community.
History of the Flag
The original rainbow pride flag was planned in by Gilbert Baker, an openly gay creator and activist. The flag originally featured eight stripes, each of which represented something different. From superior to bottom, the stripes represented hot pink (for sex), red (for life), orange (for healing), yellow (for sunlight), green (for nature)
Flags of the LGBTIQ Community
Flags have always been an integral part of the LGBTIQ+ movement. They are a observable representation meant to mark progress, advocate for advocacy, and amplify the request and drive for collective action. There have been many LGBTIQ+ flags over the years. Some possess evolved, while others are constantly being conceptualized and created.
Rainbow Flag
Created in by Gilbert Baker, the iconic Pride Rainbow flag originally had eight stripes. The colors included pink to represent sexuality, red for healing, yellow for heat, green for serenity with nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. In the years since, the flag now has six colors. It no longer has a pink stripe, and the turquoise and indigo stripes were replaced with royal blue.
Progress Movement Flag
Created in by nonbinary artist Daniel Quasar, the Progress Pride flag is based on the iconic rainbow flag. With stripes of black and brown to represent marginalized LGBTIQ+ people of shade and the triad of blue, pink, and colorless from the trans flag, the design represents diversity and inclusion.
Trans Flag
Conceived by Monica Helms, an openly transge
The Progress Pride flag was developed in by agender American artist and architect Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns). Based on the iconic rainbow flag from , the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community and calls for a more inclusive society. In , the V&A acquired a bespoke applique version of the Progress Pride flag that can be seen on display in the Design – Now gallery.
'Progress' is a reinterpretation of multiple iterations of the pride flag. The authentic 'rainbow flag' was created by Gilbert Baker in to celebrate members of the gay and queer woman political movement. It comprised eight coloured stripes stacked on top of each other to evoke a rainbow, a symbol of hope. Baker assigned a specific meaning to each colour: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for essence, turquoise for magic, indigo for serenity and violet for spirit. A year later the pink and turquoise stripes were dropped owing to a shortage of pink fabric at the time and legibility concerns, resulting in the six-colour rainbow flag most commonly used in the first decades of the 21st century.
Baker's flag was embraced internationally a
Gay Pride/Rainbow Flag - Variations with order and number of stripes (1)
Sexual Orientation Flags
On this page:See also:Five-striped variations
image by Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 26 June
At least one of the flags seen in Mumbai, India, on 16 August did replace red and orange stripes with a single orange-red stripe, while keeping the peculiar order of other colors, as shown here. The reason for this is unclear, since the usual six-striped rainbow flag is not unknown in India, as some of the above sources reveal.
Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 26 June
image by Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 25 August
Another variant with five stripes omits the violet stripe, while the order of others remains unchanged, with cerulean (lighter than usual) at the top and red at the bottom. This flag was used at the 6th Kerala Gay Pride, which took place at Thiruvananthapuram on 11 July The photo of this flag can be found here. Another photo, which gives only an incomplete view, can be found here.
Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 25 August
image by Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 23 August
A version with five stripes arranged vertically was used in Australia, at the Sydney Queer and Lesbian Mardi Gras P.