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Daily Mirror
28-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
Inside the evolution of the Pride flag and what it looks like today
As we celebrate Pride and shine a light on the ongoing activism and achievements of the LGBTQIA+ community, we take a look at the evolution and history of the Pride flag With June marking Pride Month globally, the UK has events and marches occurring across the length and breadth of the country all month long. Pride Month honours the legacy of the Stonewall uprising while also shining a light on the ongoing activism and achievements of the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual) community. Evoking a sense of belonging, representation, and community, the Pride flag is a symbol of unity and empowerment. In fact, Google Trends found that ' Flag ' search interest spikes every June in the UK. ' progress pride flag ' is a breakout search and the top trending flag this June. But what exactly are the origins of this world-renowned flag? Here's a brief breakdown of the history of the Pride flag and its evolution over the decades. Pride flag: A brief history The 8-stripe flag was first designed by an activist from San Francisco called Gilbert Baker, whose aim was to represent the diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community through the flag. Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay elected official, commissioned Gilbert to create a visual of pride for the gay community. With flags often being recognised as key pillars of self-identity, Gilbert's design was then printed onto a flag. The first iteration of the Pride flag was revealed during the Gay Freedom Day Parade in San Francisco in 1978. Due to colour shortages however, the turquoise and pink stripes had to be removed from the flag, and the blue stripe was changed to a different shade. This is the version of the Pride flag which is world-renowned and has since served as an iconic representation and symbol of unity, freedom, and equality for the community. The Gilbert Baker Design Inspired by the lyrics of Judy Garland's Over the Rainbow and the visual language of other civil rights movements from the 1960s by black civil rights groups, Gilbert Baker designed the Rainbow Flag. Hand-dyed and hand-sewn by him, the flag was first flown at San Francisco's Gay Freedom Day in June 1978. Each coloured stripe of Gilbert's flag represents a different aspect of the LGBTQIA+ community, namely: Hot Pink for Sex, Red for Life, Orange for Healing, Yellow for Sunlight, Green for Nature and Serenity, Turquoise for Art, Indigo for Harmony, and Violet for Spirit. Pride Flag History from 1978 to 1999 After Harvey Milk's assassination in 1978, several individuals and organisations chose to adopt the Pride flag introduced to the community upon his insistence. The flag was flown across San Francisco and was ordered for mass production by Gilbert, the original designer of the flag, with the help of local business Paramount Flag Co, in an effort to commemorate Harvey's accomplishments and continue the community's fight for equality and diversity. Demand for the rainbow-striped flag rose so high, it became impossible for the 8-stripe design to be produced in such large quantities. Gilbert and Paramount both struggled with sourcing the hot pink fabric, and so a 7-stripe version of the flag was borne and manufactured. The Traditional Gay Pride Flag 1979 once again saw the Pride flag's design amended — this time to a six-stripe version — after several complications arose over the odd number of stripes featured on the flag, as well as the conundrum of people wanting to split the flag in order to decorate Pride parades. The indigo and turquoise stripes of the flag were combined to create a vivid royal blue stripe instead, and it was agreed that the flag would typically be flown horizontally, with the red stripe at the top, forming a natural rainbow. Finally landing upon a six colour version, this is the iteration of the flag the world is most familiar with. This version of the Pride flag's design became extremely popular globally, making it the focal point of landmark decisions like John Stout fighting for his right to fly Pride flag from his apartment's balcony in 1989. The 2017 Philadelphia Design In 2017, the city of Philadelphia recognised that people of colour often face discrimination within the LGBTQIA+ community itself, and thus added an additional 2 stripes — black and brown — to the Pride flag, in an effort to represent the regular prejudices and struggles faced by queer people of colour. While some organisations and activists criticised the new design citing unnecessary division and boundary creation within the community, Pride festivals world-over, including in Manchester, UK, decided to adopt the design in a bid to promote inclusion, especially within the community. This came especially after a 2018 study's finding showed that 51 per cent of BAME LGBTQIA+ individuals have faced racism within the queer community. The Progress Pride Flag June 2018 saw Daniel Quasar, an activist and designer, release another version of the Pride flag, which combined the new elements of the Philadelphia design with the Transgender flag in an effort to promote further progress and inclusion. This new iteration of the flag saw a chevron added to the hoist of the traditional 6-stripe flag. The chevron represented those living with HIV/AIDS and those who have been lost, trans and non-binary persons, as well as marginalised LGBTQIA+ communities of colour. The new design went viral and was fervently adopted by pride parades and people all over the globe. The chevron's arrow purposefully points to the right in a means to represent forward movement and progress. Intersex Inclusive Progress Pride Flag In 2021, the Pride flag was once again reinvented, with Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK adapting the previous Pride Progress flag to now incorporate the intersex flag as well, thus creating the Intersex-Inclusive Pride flag of 2021. Purple and yellow are colours used by the intersex community as an intentional counterpoint against the gender defining blue and pink that have traditionally been used for years around the world. The circle further represents the idea of being whole and unbroken, denoting the right of Intersex people to make independent decisions with regards to their own bodies. Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you!
Vogue
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Vogue
Lynn Loves Jewelry: Multicolored Creations to Show Up for Pride Month
It's Pride Month! In 1978, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to win elected office in the United States, urged the artist Gilbert Baker to create a flag that would celebrate the diversity of the LGBT community. (If Milk's name rings a bell at the moment, it may be because in a viciously reactionary but hardly surprising development, the Trump administration has moved to strip his name from the US naval ship Harvey Milk, bestowed in honor of the Navy veteran and San Francisco politician who was assassinated in 1978.) The rainbow flag had humble beginnings: Thirty volunteers helped Baker hand-dye and stitch the first two in the top-floor attic gallery of the Gay Community Center in San Francisco. The design has undergone several revisions since, but the most common version is composed of six stripes, with the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Which brings us to the exquisite rainbow-hued jewelry we feature here. You might think that wearing multicolored baubles is a trivial way to commemorate a historic human rights struggle, but think about it—maybe your watermelon tourmaline ring or dazzling dripping earrings will provoke a conversation about the Stonewall uprising, that night 56 years ago that gave birth to the modern LGBTQ+ movement? Here is how the eminent author Edmund White, who passed away earlier this month, described the Stonewall rebellion: 'Up till that moment we had all thought that homosexuality was a medical term. Suddenly we saw that we could be a minority group—with rights, a culture, an agenda.' Rights, a culture, an agenda—what could be more important this year than fighting fiercely to defend and extend those freedoms? Among our suggestions this month, we feature Eden Presley's Believe in Love pendant—a flying piggy with pavé rainbow sapphire wings. Before Stonewall, the idea that a gay rights movement could even exist—let alone flourish—was as likely as an airborne porker. But as Representative Sarah McBride, the first trans member of Congress has observed, 'Change always seems impossible until it's inevitable.' Happy Pride. Rings Bracelets Earrings Necklaces
USA Today
23-05-2025
- General
- USA Today
Rainbow flag meaning: A brief history lesson on how the Pride flag came to be
Rainbow flag meaning: A brief history lesson on how the Pride flag came to be Show Caption Hide Caption Pride flag colors, explained: Meanings behind the rainbow colors The rainbow Pride flag has become a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. Here's how the flag came to be and what its colors represent. Since its creation in 1978, the pride flag has become a universal symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. It represents visibility and hope and reflects the diversity within the LGBTQ+ community. While the flag is easily recognized, its history may not be as well-known to everyone. Did you know the current rainbow flag is an updated design of the original? Here is a history lesson on how the pride rainbow flag came to be and the meaning behind its colors. What do the colors of the Pride flag mean? Each of the pride flag's six rainbow colors has a unique meaning: Red: Life Orange: Healing Yellow: Sunlight Green: Nature Blue: Serenity Purple: Spirit Trans flag colors: Learn what the blue, white and pink mean to the community The history of the Gilbert Baker pride flag In the 1970s, Harvey Milk – the first openly gay elected official in California – tasked activist Gilbert Baker to design a symbol of hope for the gay community. "Harvey Milk was a friend of mine, an important gay leader in San Francisco in the '70s, and he carried a really important message about how important it was to be visible," Baker said in an interview with the Museum of Modern Art in 2015. "A flag really fit that mission, because that's a way of proclaiming your visibility, or saying, 'This is who I am!'" The original Pride flag had eight stripes, each symbolizing: Hot pink: Sex Red: Life Orange: Healing Yellow: Sunlight Green: Nature Turquoise: Magic Indigo: Serenity Purple: Spirit Prior to the rainbow flag, the pink triangle was used as a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community, according to Baker. In Nazi Germany, people were forced to wear pink triangles. While the symbol was reclaimed, the community wanted a new symbol. "We needed something beautiful, something from us," Baker said in the MoMA interview. "The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things." The original pride flag was flown for the first time at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978, the History Channel reports. What are the colors of the lesbian flag? Get to know variations of the Pride flag How did the Pride flag come to be? The original flag was made by hand, but as they started to be mass-produced, the hot pink stripe was removed due to manufacturing difficulties, the New York Times reports. Parade organizers also wanted the rainbow to have an even number of stripes so to split and line the street along parade routes. Baker then removed the turquoise stripe, replacing it for blue, the History Channel reports.
