The arrow points to the right to show movement forward but sits along the left edge to show the progress that still needs to be made. This variation of the flag aims to put marginalised communities of people of colour and transgender people at the forefront. Light blue, pink, and white represent transgender and non-binary individuals. Black and brown represent marginalised Black, Asian and other ethnic minority communities. The Progress flag uses the Pride flag as a base whilst adding a chevron along the left edge of the flag. He decided to create a new flag design with some more additions. Whilst the meaning behind the Philadelphia Pride flag was extremely important, non-binary graphic design Daniel Quasar thought it was hard to see all the colours on the flag with just the stripes. However, the pink and turquoise colours became too expensive to mass-produce, so these were dropped a year later – making the common Pride flag we see today with 6 colours.Ī new flag called the Progress flag was created in 2018 using inspiration from the Philadelphia pride flag. Gilbert’s original design included eight different colours: The colours in the Pride flag all have different meanings. It was made up of five stripes – red, white, black, brown, and yellow.īased on this inspiration, Gilbert created the first version of the Pride flag in 1978. This was used in the 1960s to protest for world peace. The striped design on the Pride flag is thought to be inspired by the Flag of the Human Race. During this time, the community adopted the rainbow as a symbol. Judy Garland died on June 22, 1969, one week before the Stonewall riots. The song resonated with a lot of people and quickly became an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community. Gilbert said that some of the inspiration for the rainbow came from Judy Garland’s song ‘ Over the Rainbow ’ in the Wizard of Oz movie.
He urged Gilbert Baker, an openly gay American artist, army veteran, activist, and drag queen, to create a symbol of pride for the LGBTQ+ community. One of these people was Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected US officials.
However, many people wanted a new symbol of pride for the LGBTQ+ community. People wore it to show solidarity to those in the community who were punished for being gay. Men forced to wear the pink triangles, also known as ‘die Rosa-Winkel’, were considered the “lowest of the low”.Īfter the war, some LGBTQ+ people reclaimed the symbol of the pink triangle. The history of the Pride flagĭuring World War II, the symbol of a pink triangle was used by the Nazi’s to label men who they thought were homosexual, just as the Star of David was used to label Jewish people. If you find words that are new to you in the following blog, like non-binary, intersex etc, then Stonewall have a fantastic Glossary of Terms explaining what each one is with the English and Welsh words listed. I ddarllen y cynnwys yma yn Gymraeg – clicia yma This article is part of Meic’s LGBTQ+ History Month Campaign – check it out here The + is an inclusive symbol representing people of all identities within the community. LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer history. As part of LGBTQ➕ History Month, let’s explore the history of this special flag. Over the years, it has been updated to better represent more communities. The Pride flag symbolises hope, diversity and inclusivity within the LGBTQ➕ community.