Pride 2026 Day 10: The Pride Flag(s)
Despite what you might think, the classic 6 striped rainbow flag isn't the only pride flag out there. In fact, it wasn't even the first.
The first pride flag came about in 1978, and it was hand-sewn by an artist and activist Gilbert Baker. It contains 8 stripes, the different colours symbolise different things. Pink = sex, red = life, orange = healing, yellow = sunlight, green = nature, turquoise = magic and art, indigo = serenity, and violet = spirit.
After the gay rights icon Harvey Milk was assassinated, the demand for the pride flag rose up. The pink and turquoise were removed to make manufacturing easier, creating the 6 stripe pride flag we know and love today.
During the height of the AIDS pandemic, a 7th black stripe was addded under the violet to represent those who lost their lives to the disease. This flag is called the Victory Over AIDS Pride Flag.
In 2017, 2 more stripes were added above the red to the 6 stripe flag, they were black and brown to represent queer black and brown people.This flag was created by Philadelphia's "more colour, more pride" campaign.
Seeing the backlash to the Philadelphia pride flag, Gilbert Baker created the Lavender Pride Flag. It takes the design from the original flag, and adds a 9th lavender stripe to symbolise diversity.
A year later, an artist named Daniel Quasar released what he called the "Progress Pride Flag". It moved the black and brown stripes to the left to form a triangle, and added 3 more pastel pink, blue, and white stripes to symbolise trans people. David explained that the arrow points to the right to show forward movement, yet stays on the left to show that progress still needs to be made.
In 2021, Valentino Vecchietti shared a version of the progress pride flag that included a yellow triangle with a purple circle to represent the intersex community.
In conclusion, all of these pride flags are representative of the LGBTQ+ community, and are all okay to use to show your pride or support.
Happy pride, Crowd Hangout.