What the flag? LGBTQ+ Flags explained
Thursday 11th June 2026 | Macauley Jacobson
LGBTQ+ flags are colourful symbols that represent the diverse identities and communities within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and broader LGBTQ+ spectrum. They are used to celebrate identity, express pride, promote visibility, and foster a sense of belonging.
The most widely recognised is the rainbow Pride flag, first created by Gilbert Baker in 1978, which symbolises the diversity and unity of the LGBTQ+ community. Over time, many additional flags have been designed to represent specific identities, such as bisexual, transgender, pansexual, asexual, nonbinary, and many others.
These flags are commonly displayed during Pride events, community gatherings, and awareness campaigns, as well as by individuals who wish to express their identity or show support for LGBTQ+ inclusion. While each flag has its own unique colours and meanings, they all share a common purpose: celebrating diversity, encouraging acceptance, and recognising the experiences of LGBTQ+ people around the world.
UMBRELLA FLAGS
The original Pride Flag was created in 1978 after activist Harvey Milk asked artist Gilbert Baker to design a symbol of gay pride. Each colour represents a different part of the LGBTQ+ community: hot pink represents sex, red symbolises life, orange stands for healing, yellow equals sunlight, green stands for nature, turquoise symbolises magic and art, indigo represents serenity, while violet symbolises the spirit of LGBTQ+ people.
After the assassination of Harvey Milk, the rainbow flag was in high demand. Due to manufacturing issues, the hot pink stripe was removed. The turquoise stripe was removed from the flag as a design choice from Baker. The six colour pride flag has represented the community for over 40 years and is still one of the most common LGBTQ+ flags.
The Progress Pride Flag evolved from the Philadelphia Pride Flag and was created by Daniel Quaser. Quasar added a white, pink, and light blue stripe to represent the Trans community. While the black and brown stripes still represented communities of colour, the black stripe is also a nod the thousands of individuals that the community lost during the HIV/AIDS crisis in 1980s and 1990s. Since its creation, the flag has become very popular.
The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag adds the intersex community to the Progress Pride Flag. With this update coming in 2021, this serves as the most up-to-date LGBTQ+ flag. The flag was created by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK.
While this flag is not as well known, this is the Queer Pride Flag. Created in 2015, the flag represents all aspects of queerness as the label ‘queer’ has become more celebrated. The pink and blue shades represented same-gender attraction while the orange and green stripes stand for non-binary and gender non-confirming individuals. The black and white stripes symbolise asexual, aromantic, and the agender community.
The Heterosexual Ally (or Straight Ally) Pride Flag represents heterosexual and cisgender individuals who actively support LGBTQ+ equal rights. It features six alternating black and white stripes with a bold, rainbow-colored letter "A" (for "Ally") centred in the middle. Designed in the late 2000s, this flag is widely celebrated within the LGBTQ+ community as a symbol of unity and welcome support.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION FLAGS
While there have been many iterations of the Lesbian Pride Flag, this has been in use since 2018. Since then, it has been widely accepted. The different shades of red, pink, and orange represent the different types of femininity in the lesbian community.
This is the second version of the Gay Men’s Pride Flag. The original only had green, blue and white. This version has different shades of green and blue to include non-cisgender gay men.
The Bisexual Flag was created in 1998 by Michael Page to bring awareness o the bisexual community. The pink represents bisexual’s attraction to the same gender while the blue represents the attraction to the opposite gender. The purple stripe in the middle represents attraction to two genders.
The Pansexual Pride Flag was created around 2010 in order to bring awareness to the community. Pansexual people are those who have the potential for emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to people of any gender though not necessarily at the same time, in the same way or to the same degree. The pink stripe represents attraction to women while the blue stripe represents attraction to men. The yellow stripe is for everyone else in-between and beyond the gender binary.
The Asexual Pride Flag was created in 2010 following a contest by the Asexual Visibility and Education Network. Asexual individuals are people that do not have a sexual attraction to any gender. Each stripe has a different meaning: black represents asexuality, gray means gray-asexuality & demisexuality, whites stands for non-asexual partners and allies, and the purple represents community.
It is unknown when the Demisexual Pride Flag was created, but it represents people who only form sexual attraction for people once they have established a deep emotional connection with them. Each color has a different meaning: black represents asexuality, grey stands for demisexuality, white means sexuality, while purple represents community.
In 2021, over 30,000 members of the polyamorous community voted for this new Polyamory Pride Flag design by Red Howell, which created a contemporary approach to the traditional vexillological elements of the original flag from 1995, and represents elements around different core values including white for possibility, magenta for desire and love, blue for openness and honesty, gold for energy and perseverance and purple representing the united non-monogamous community.
The Polysexual Pride Flag was created online in 2012 for people that are attracted to multiple, yet not all, gender. The blue stripe represents attraction to men, pink stands for the attraction to women, while green is for attraction to those outside of the binary.
GENDER IDENTITY FLAGS
The Transgender Pride Flag debuted at Phoenix Pride in 2000 and was created by US Navy Veteran Monica Helms. She created the flag as a symbol of both the diversity of the trans community and the rights that trans people are fighting for today. The blue stripes represent the ‘traditional boy’ colours while the pink stripes represent the ‘traditional girl’ colours. The white stripes represents those who are intersex, transitioning, or have an undefined gender.
The Nonbinary Pride Flag was created in 2014 to represent those individuals who do not identify with either binary gender or within the binary at all. The yellow stripe represents a gender outside of the binary. The white stripe stands for those who have multiple or all genders. The purple stripe symbolises those who fall between the male/female binary. The black stripe represents those with no gender.
The Intersex Pride Flag was developed in 2013 by the co-chair of Intersex Human Rights Australia, Morgan Carpenter. Intersex people are those born with a variety of differences in their sex traits and reproductive anatomy. There is no one way to be intersex as everyone’s experience in unique. The creator chose yellow and purple as those are seen as gender neutral colors.
The Genderfluid Pride Flag was developed in 2013 by JJ Poole to give space to those whose gender identity and/or gender expression fluctuates during different times and different circumstances. Each colour represents a different aspect of the Genderfluid community: pink stands for femininity, while blue stands for masculinity, white represents the lack of gender while black symbolises all genders, the purple stripe represents a combination of masculinity and femininity.
The Genderqueer Pride Flag was created by Marilyn Roxie in 2011 to represent those people that reject the static categories of gender. Genderqueer people may see themselves as both or neither male and female or beyond the binary. The lavender stripe represents androgyny and other queer identities while the white stripe stands for agender people. The green stripe symbolises those who fall outside of the binary.
The Agender Pride Flag was created in 2014 to represent those who have an unidentifiable gender, are gender neutral, or have no gender. The black and white stripes represent the absence of gender while the gray stripes stand for semi-genderless people. The green stripe represents non-binary people.
The creation of the Bigender Pride Flag is unknown. The flag represents those who have two genders. In some cases, this is both male and female, but it can also include non-binary identities. These two gender identities can occur at the same time or they can vary over time.
The details around the creation of the Demigender Pride Flag are unknown. The flag represents those people who have a partial feeling, but not a full connection, to a particular gender identity or to the concept of gender.
INTERSECTIONALITY FLAGS
The Pride of Africa debuted at Johannesburg Pride in 2019. It was created by Pride of Africa Foundation. This is the first pan-African LGBTQ+ flag. It is inspired by the flags of all the countries in Africa.
The Queer People of Color Flag appeared at San Francisco Pride in 2019, but rose to prominence in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter Protests. While the designer and original year are unknown, the flag signifies how the struggle for racial equality and queer equality often intersect. It also honors the number of QPOC that have spent their lives fighting for both queer and racial equity.
The Two-Spirit Pride Flag represents Indigenous American that identity as two-spirit individuals meaning they fall outside of the M-F binary. The feathers represent masculine and feminine identities. The circle signifies the unification of both identities into a separate gender while the rainbow represents modern queer identities.
