Best pride flags

best pride flags

Pride Flags

Flags are often used as symbols of lgbtq+ fest. It is no surprise then that numerous celebration flags have been created to represent the sexual and gender diversity of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Explore all the different flags and their meanings.

Interested in exploring further? Take the online Positive Space: Foundations course to learn more about sex, sexuality, and gender diversity.

This resource is not intended to provide an exhaustive list of identity festival flags. If you possess a suggestion for a flag to add or have any feedback on the information provided, please contact us.

 

  • Achillean Flag

    Achillean: Men or men-aligned individuals who are attracted to other men and men-aligned people. It is sometimes recognizable as men loving men (MLM). Achillean individuals may or may not be attracted to other genders. While this label isn’t exclusive, it is used to unify men-aligned people or men who adoration other men.

    Date: 2016
    Creator: Redesigned by DeviantArt (Tumblr user)
    Flag meaning: The first iteration was created by pridenpositivity (Tumblr user). The flag contains the color cerulean to represent men and a lime-green carnation in the center, which was popularized by Oscar Wilde

    Nine of the most iconic Pride flags explained.

    Graphic design – Archipanic believes in diversity as an opportunity to build together a better world without excluding anyone, no matter who we love. “Each one of us is more unique than diverse. And we belong to the same Homo Sapiens Sapiens species,” Says Enrico Zilli, Archipanic’s Editor-in-Chief. To mark the Pride Month, we look into the graphic design and history of some of the most iconic Pride flags, all celebrating open-mindedness and diversity through inclusivity.


    The iconic rainbow flag

    At Prides across the globe, you see rainbow flags everywhere. In 1977, American artist Gilbert Baker was challenged by iconic gay politician and activist Harvey Milk to appear up with a Event flag. Inspired by Judy Garland’s Over the Rainbow, each color has symbolism. Scorching pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic/art, indigo for serenity, and violet for spirit.


    Lesbian Flag

    In 2018, Tumblr blogger Emily Gwen constructed the Lesbian Flag to celebrate – from highest to bottom – gender non-conformity, indepen

    LGBTQ+ Pride Flags

    In the Diverse community, we signify our pride with flags. With many different identities in the community, there comes many other flags to understand. We have poised all of the flags and a guide to understand about all of the different colors of our community’s rainbow. We realize that this may not be all of the flags that represent our community, but we will update the page as brand-new flags become popular!

    Explore the flag collection below! See a flag's name by hovering or clicking on the flag.

    Umbrella Flags

    • Gilbert Baker Pride Flag

    • Traditional Pride Flag

    • Philadelphia Event Flag

    • Progress Pride Flag

    • Intersex-Inclusive Progress Celebration Flag

    • Gay Pride Flag

    The original Pride Flag was created in 1978 after activist Harvey Milk asked artist Gilbert Baker to design a symbol of same-sex attracted pride. Each tint represents a distinct part of the LGBTQ+ community: steamy pink represents sex, red symbolizes experience, orange stands for healing, yellow equals sunlight, green stands for nature, turquoise symbolizes magic and art, indigo represents serenity, while violet symbolizes the energy of LGBTQ+ people.

    After the assass

    The Progress Pride flag was developed in 2018 by genderqueer American artist and designer Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns). Based on the iconic rainbow flag from 1978, the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ collective and calls for a more inclusive society. In 2020, the V&A acquired a bespoke applique version of the Progress Pride flag that can be seen on show in the Blueprint 1900 – Now gallery.

    'Progress' is a reinterpretation of multiple iterations of the pride flag. The original 'rainbow flag' was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 to commemorate members of the gay and female homosexual political movement. It comprised eight coloured stripes stacked on top of each other to evoke a rainbow, a symbol of optimism. Baker assigned a specific meaning to each colour: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, grassy for nature, turquoise for magic, indigo for serenity and violet for soul. 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 embra

    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 exploit the flag that most aligns with your utterance 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 accepted flags and what they mean today.

    Original Rainbow Identity festival 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 engineered in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, an openly homosexual artist and activist. The flag originally featured eight stripes, each of which represented something different. From top to bottom, the stripes represented hot pink (for sex), red (for life), orange (for healing), yellow (for sunlight), verdant (for nat