An introduction to some of the flags you may come across in the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Agender Pride Flag was designed in 2014 by Salem X. The black and white stripes represent an absence of gender, the gray stripes represent semi-genderless, and the green stripe represents nonbinary genders.
The Aromantic Pride flag was created by a Tumblr user known as "cameronwhimsy" in 2014. The green stripes represent the spectrum of aromantic individuals because the color green is on the opposite side of the color wheel from red (which is typically associated with romance). white represents platonic relationships and gray and black represents those of other sexualities.
The asexual pride flag was created by a member of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network in August of 2010 as a part of a community effort to create and choose a flag. Each stripe has a different meaning: black represents asexuality, gray means gray-sexuality and demisexuality, white stands for non asexual partners and allies, and purple represents community.
Michael Page introduced the Bisexual Pride Flag in December of 1998 to represent and increase visibility of bisexual people in the LGBT community and society as a whole. It features three horizontal stripes; pink represents same-sex attraction, royal blue represents attraction to the opposite sex, and purple represents attraction to all genders.
The Demisexual Pride Flag was designed in 2010 by a member of the AVEN (Asexual Visibility and Education Network) forum. The black triangle is an acknowledgement of the larger asexual community and is meant to represent a lack of sexual attraction. The white stripe symbolizes allosexuality, the presence of sexual attraction. The purple stripe, which is set in the middle and touches all of the colors on the flag, is another nod to the asexual flag and also represents community. The gray stripe symbolizes the gray-ace or graysexuality community, those who fall somewhere between asexual and sexual or those who might not have a clearly defined identity.
This design of the Gay Men's Pride flag was introduced by a Tumblr user in 2019. It has previously faced controversy for being transphobic and copying the lesbian flag but ultimately has been accepted and widely used. It features seven stripes (sometimes five), green and turquoise represent community and healing, white represents gender non-binary and transgender individuals, and blue and purple represent love, diversity, and fortitude.
Developed in 2013 by JJ Poole, this flag is intended to give space to those whose gender identity and/or expression fluctuates during different times and circumstances. Each color is meant to represent a different aspect of the genderfluid community: pink for femininity, white for lack of gender, purple for a combination of masculinity and femininity, black for all genders, and blue for masculinity.
The Genderqueer Pride Flag is a symbol for people who reject the static category of gender. Genderqueer people may see themselves as both or neither male or female, or beyond the binary. Lavender represents androgyny and other queer identities, white represents agender people, and green symbolizes everyone who identify outside of the binary.
The intersex pride flag was developed in 2013 by the co-chair of Intersex Human Rights Australia, Morgan Carpenter. The circle represents wholeness (the purple representing the diversity of intersex people), while the yellow background represents gender neutrality.
In 2018, Emily Gwen redesigned the lesbian pride flag to include orange stripes. A five-stripe version exists and can be used interchangeably with this one. Dark orange signifies gender non-conformity, orange signifies independence, light orange signifies community, white signifies unique relationships to womanhood, pink signifies serenity, dusty pink signifies love and sex, and dark rose signifies femininity.
The nonbinary pride flag was created in 2014 by activist Kye Rowe, for people who did not feel that the genderqueer flag represented them. The yellow stripe represents gender outside of the binary, the white stripe represents those who identify with multiple genders, the purple stripe represents a combination of masculinity and femininity and the black stripe represents those who identify as agender.
It is unclear who created the pansexual pride flag but it first appeared on the internet in 2010 and has been widely used to represent pansexual pride ever since. The pink stripe represents attraction to women, the blue stripe attraction to men and the yellow stripe represents attraction to everyone else in between and beyond the gender binary.
The Polysexual Pride Flag was designed by a Tumblr user known as "Samlin" in 2012 to represent people who identify as being attracted to multiple, but not all, genders. The pink stripe represents attraction to women, the green stripe represents attraction to non-binary and other gender identities, and the blue stripe represents attraction to men.
The progress pride flag was initially created by Daniel Quasar in 2018 in response to a need for more inclusive symbol acknowledging the diversity within the LGBTQ+ community. Quasar added a pink, white and light blue stripe to represent the trans community. The black and brown stripes represent communities of color but the black stripe is also a nod to the lives lost during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 90s.The version of the progress pride flag that you see here, includes the intersex flag within it which was created by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK in 2021.
The rainbow pride flag was created by Gilbert Baker when gay-rights leader Harvey Milk encouraged him to devise a symbol for gay pride. This six-color pride flag was created by Baker in 1978 when the demand for pride flags increased after Milk's assassination in November of that year. It previously included pink and turquoise stripes but those were dropped to more easily mass market the flag.
The Transgender Pride Flag was created by trans activist and U.S. Navy veteran Monica Helms in 1999. It was debuted at Phonex Pride in the year 2000. The flag was designed to represent those whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The light blue stripes represent the traditional color for baby boys, the light pink represents the traditional color for baby girls and the white stripe represents non-binary individuals.
There is no one agreed-upon Two-Spirit flag; however, tumblr user 2Sanon developed the most commonly seen two-spirit flag. They submitted it to ask-pride-color-schemes on December 17th 2016. The circle denotes oneness in one, while the two feathers signify woman and man. It's usually put over the LGBT rainbow flag (as pictured here) but it may also be draped over a transgender or nonbinary flag.
All descriptions are adapted or provided by publishers.