The series The Flags of the Rainbow begins with an introduction. This introduction begins with a historical review of the original Rainbow Flag, designed by Gilbert Baker and how this led to the introduction of the Intersex-inclusive LGBT Progress Pride Flag in 2021.
This first part of the article appeared earlier on the website of De Goede Huisvader in 2021. Back then it was just one article. It became a series of three articles, “The Flags of the Rainbow” and this is the second part entitled “The Flags of the Rainbow – Introduction”, with some necessary adjustments and updates.
"Complete overview"
Let’s talk about websites that claim to show a “complete overview” of flags related to the LGBT+ community. So rainbow flags. Such an overview will never be complete because it is dynamic. The community itself designs new flags and this happens more often than you think. Therefore, Artigenda’s overview is not complete. Any website that claims to present a complete overview is doing one thing – lying.
If an author claims that the article consists of a “complete overview,” “complete list” or whatever the claim may be, that is not only incorrect. It’s also impossible in most cases. Mostly because these articles aren’t updated frequently and after a close inspection the list isn’t considered “complete.”
The list that Artigenda provided isn’t complete. Any statement about how “complete” this list would be, is similar to something else. That would be the same as lying.
About the original article
The original article appeared in 2021 with only a few flags. Moreover, that article included several flags that were receiving a lot of attention at the time, especially online. It would later turn out that this attention would be considerably less. The basis is still the 2021 article, the Pride Walk at the time and the impression left by that event. That was on August 7, 2021 and the author back then was the same as now: Harm Jagerman.
"On 7 August 2021, we went to the Pride Walk in Amsterdam. Because of COVID-19 measures, everything was a bit different that year. Pride Week had been changed. The Pride Walk which went ahead. While walking through Amsterdam, I saw many different flags and some of them I didn't recognise. For me as a parent, it was a reason to find out exactly what flags were. This led to an article I published in 2021. In January 2023, I updated this article on a few points to reflect current events."
About the Amsteram Pride Walk
In 2021, the Pride Walk was part of the Amsterdam Pride and this was an event that wasn’t separated as it is nowadays. As of 2023, the Amsterdam Pride is divided into two different parts. The first section, organized by Queer Amsterdam, focuses on the more activist issues and draws attention to issues of acceptance and emancipation. The second part, organised by Pride Amsterdam (what’s in a name), focuses on other issues, focusing on a boat parade in the famous Canal Parade. The Pride Walk is part of the first part of Pride Amsterdam, organised thus by Queer Amsterdam.
This all came about because of an ongoing debate about Pride Amsterdam having become too commercial, in which the Canal Parade would consist of companies enabled to do Pink Washing on payment of money. Queer Amsterdam wanted to change this, shift the focus to the community and emphasize issues that matter. Putting the focus on the need for change. A Pride Walk is a way to show that there is a group fighting for change, in a non-violent way. So that was organized in 2023 by Queer Amsterdam.
People wanted to do justice to what it was all about, the commemoration of the Stonewall uprising in the late 1960s in the United States. Incidentally, Amsterdam did have a different tradition when it came to Pride, as traditionally it did not take place in June. Pride Amsterdam took place in July and/or August. This had everything to do with past developments. For example, the Gay Games of the 1990s and the Canal Parade that emerged then. The difference between Pride Parades in other places in the world and the Canal Parade is that in Amsterdam it takes place on the water. Incidentally, this is also the case in the Dutch cities of Leiden and Utrecht. What does not make Amsterdam “different” from other cities around the world is the Pride Walk, because it is walked on foot. There is no water involved. Both events are separated from each other. Not only when it comes to organization. Also, when it comes to the dates.
Commercial or not commercial, it is nevertheless not “just another party.” Not even thanks to the presence of companies doing pinkwashing. Although this is not a good thing. The underlying message is always that it is about acceptance and empowerment. Besides, it is all about ending discrimination, hatred and violence.
It all started without a flag
The events that we nowadays refer to as “Stonewall” or (longer name) the Stonewall Uprising or even the older protest like the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot (August 1966), were not supported by a symbol as we know it today. There was no flag. Indeed, the protests we commemorate today, i.e. what started it, were not supported by a flag. It all started without a flag.
The Stonewall Uprising or the Stonewall Riots took place between June 28 and July 3, 1969. Less well known are the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot of August 1966. Discrimination of trans women was the cause of these protests, which turned into a disturbance. It turned into a disturbance for the same reason things escalated three years later. In 1966 the police decided to intervene in San Francisco and this led to riots that are known as the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot. In Greenwich Village (New York City), the police raided the famous Stonewall Inn, three years later. The difference between these events is that the exact date of the events in San Francisco is unknown. It did become clear that San Francisco police used force against the mostly trans women who protested against the cafeteria’s measures to ban them from the cafeteria from now on.
There wasn’t a flag or a symbol, but a need to remember. People started to do this in New York in 1970. It became the Christopher Street Day (CSD) and the Christopher Street Day Parade. CSD and the parade became increasingly important, and these events weren’t limited to New York City. More people recognised the importance of remembrance. First in the United States itself, and later outside the United States.
In San Francisco, the first CSD Parade took place on Saturday, June 27, 1970. CSD Parades were also organized in Chicago and other cities in the country.
The original Pride Flag
Let us not forget that in the early 1970s, there was no Pride Flag as we know it today. It had not yet been designed. The flag was presented in 1978 by Gilbert Baker (June 2, 1951 – March 31, 2017).
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Baker’s flag is still considered the most important flag for the LGBTQIA+ community. The flag is one for the entire community and was presented at the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade in 1979. A problem presented itself with the introduction of this design, as the colour pink was difficult to produce.
Still, this is a flag for the entire community, just as it was then. The flag was specially designed by Baker for San Francisco’s Gay Pride Parade in 1979. Immediately after he designed the flag, a problem arose. It had to do with the colour pink in the flag.
The colour pink was used in another period in time. It was the Nazis, who used this colour to distinguish bisexual and homosexual men. They were forced to wear pink triangles as a mark on their uniforms in concentration camps. If a person was also Jewish, this symbol was combined with the yellow triangle or yellow star.
Women weren’t forced to wear these pink
Lesbians were not given a pink triangle. They were given the black triangle because their sexual orientation was considered anti-social. The black triangle for the anti-social included a wide range of people the Nazis considered “enemies” of the Third Reich. Women, in the Nazis’ view, were good for the family, reproduction and there was no way they could be self-determined about their own sexual orientation.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons - Original image: Das Bundesarchiv.
Meaning of the original flag
The original flag created by Baker had the following meaning:
- Pink: sex.
- Red: life.
- Orange: healing.
- Yellow: sunlight.
- Turqoise: nature.
- Indigo: serenity.
- Violet: spirit.
Inspiration
Baker took the inspiration from a pre-existing flag, presumably. Although he was never clear about this. Others say he drew inspiration from the song “Over the Rainbow,” from “The Wizard of Oz.” This song was sung by Judy Garland (10 June 1922 – 22 June 1969). He would later refute this. Not this song, but The Rolling Stones’ 1967 song “She’s a Rainbow” was closer when it came to inspiration. That was just music. The design itself was based on The Brotherhood Flag. That flag was very popular among hippies in the 1960s. This while the flag itself had already been designed in 1938.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Mistakenly, The Flag of the Human Race is also sometimes cited as a source of inspiration. Apart from information on Reddit, little information on this can be found. Now, the evidence of the relationship or link between the original Pride Flag and the Brotherhood Flag is not very clear. A November 2014 article titled “Marring the Rainbow” clarifies things by Mark Campbell.
What corresponded to the idea behind the flag as introduced in the 1930s was the same as Baker envisaged. It was about representation through the flag. In other words, a flag for a community. Of course, the 1930s flag was about all humanity and Baker’s flag was about the LGBT+ community. Although at the time, people were talking about the gay community in the US. The abbreviations used today were unknown. The big difference between the two flags was that Baker’s flag gained prominence and then became not just a symbol. The flag was adopted and served as a model for other flags.
The murder of Harvey Milk
It seems unrelated to this topic, the murder of Harvey Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978). Nothing could be further from the truth. The assassination of the San Francisco politician caused the Baker-designed flag to gain prominence.
The murder of Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978, made a big impression. Firstly, because it took place in San Francisco City Hall. In addition, it was not an assassination attempt, but two people were murdered on that day. Besides Milk, San Francisco mayor George Moscone (November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was also killed. Moscone was considered a champion of LGBT rights in San Francisco. The same can be said of Milk. Only he belonged to the community. This made him the first gay man to come out for his sexual orientation and also get elected to the city council.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The two were murdered by Dan White (September 2, 1946 – October 21, 1985), who received a remarkably low sentence for the two murders. He probably got these because he invoked his mental and physical condition. He was given a five-year prison sentence for manslaughter instead of murder. After serving two years of this sentence, White committed suicide on 21 October 1985. He always maintained that he had committed the murders because he was insane due to low blood sugar. Nevertheless, he had prepared the murders perfectly and bypassed metal detectors, entering City Hall through a basement window. It was not surprising that after the news of Milk’s murder and news of the low sentence broke out on May 21, 1971, protests and riots broke out that went down in history as the White Night Riots. Prominent among these were the flags designed by Baker.
Second design
During the large-scale manufacture of the flags, it turned out that it was difficult to make the colour pink. Therefore, the colour was dropped.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
After this modification, it wasn’t finished yet, as a new colour took its place, blue. This was because the colour turquoise proved more difficult to produce.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Meaning Pride Flag after 1979
After the adaptation, the flag was given the following meaning (after 1979) and this meaning still applies today.
- Red: life.
- Orange: healing.
- Yellow: sunlight.
- Green: nature.
- Indigo/blue: harmony/serenity.
- Violet: spirit.
A flag for the community
For a long time, the 1979 modified Pride Flag was the flag for the community. For everyone and worldwide. This would slowly change. Flags that stood for sexual orientation and flags for gender identity emerged. This was long before people talked about abbreviations as they do today. Whatever abbreviation you use, LGBTQIA+ or whatever abbreviation you use. There was a time when people did not use these abbreviations. It was the same with flags. There was a time when there was a flag and that was it. Only later were new flags added. Not only that, but people also thought about the Pride Flag itself. How could this flag, which is supposed to represent the entire community, be made more inclusive? These are all ongoing developments. Unlike flags representing countries, this does not stop there.
Why won't this stop?
The flags of the countries of the world are slightly different from the flags of the flags of the LGBTQIA+ community. Under “normal” circumstances, these flags do not change (often). Unless there is a drastic change.
The flags within the LGBTQIA+ community may well change or be added to. When there is a need. Or when it becomes clear that there is a need for change to take place. This ensures a diversity of flags.
More information about the Pride Flag of Gilber Baker
About the abbreviations
Let’s take a moment to take a look at the abbreviations that are used. What is the right abbreviation? The time that the group was referred to as gays and lesbians is long gone. Besides, there is more than sexual orientation. Let’s not forget how important gender identity is! So there’s more to consider. The abbreviation changed over the years.
It doesn't work like that....
When you say things like “It’s (so) complicated” or “Things change so often,” you won’t get away with that. There are plenty of (online) sources you can turn to. It doesn work like that, meaning: you can’t claim that it’s “so complicated” or “things change so often.”
The LGBTQIA+ community needs acceptance and empowerment. To change and end things. Things like exclusion, discrimination and violence. If this is not clear enough, read books, view websites or – better – listen to what experts say about historical events. Remember things as Pride isn’t “just” a party. It’s a necessity.
So what about the abbreviation?
The abbreviation you use refers to “a community.” Note the use of inverted commas here. Strictly speaking, there is no one kind of community. There is no such thing as a whole. It involves different people, which you count as the community. Yet again that word, community. A community suggests that everyone knows each other, and everyone lives near each other. That sort of thing. That’s not how it works. It is about a community of individuals, worldwide, based on gender identity and/or sexual orientation or even on certain preferences.
There are several abbreviations for this. The best-known abbreviation is the English abbreviation: LGBTQIA+ and the Dutch version of this is not unambiguous. Some use LGBTQ+ and others, as on this website, LGBT+.
Does it matter which abbreviation?
It matters which abbreviation you use. An abbreviation like holebi – gay, lesbian, bi – is an outdated abbreviation. In addition, the abbreviation LGB is very negative. This abbreviation deliberately omits letters. This abbreviation is used by opponents of trans and non-binary people. So yes, the use of the abbreviation matters!
Now the question is where exactly the letters stand for. There is clarity about most letters. In some cases, there is a discussion about certain letters or certain letters. So what do these letters stand for? The full abbreviation is LGBTQIAP+.
LGBTQIAP+
- L - Lesbian
- G - Gay
- B - Bisexual
- T - Transgender
- Q - Queer or questioning
- I - Intersex
- A - Asexual, aromantic or Allies1
- P - Pansexual
The plus (+) then represents any gender identities or sexual orientations not listed. Other variants of this abbreviation assume a shorter entry, with the plus sign containing the unstated letters from the longer abbreviation.
Variations on the original Pride Flag
After the introduction of Gilbert Baker’s original Pride Flag in the 1970s, variations on the original Pride Flag came about. Leading in most cases was the desire for a more inclusive version of the flag. These developments were independent of the introduction of other flags within the LGBTQIA+ community.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
One of the most unusual adjustments was the one in March 2017, when Baker himself adjusted his flag. That was shortly before his death in March. He added a pink stripe to the flag, as seen in the last image on this page. In the same year, another new design was presented. That was The Philadelphia People of Colour Flag, also known as the The Philadelphia Eight-Stripe Flag.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
One design became very popular and then modified. More on that later in a separate entry. Apart from the Philadelphia flag, more flags stemmed from a need to involve the African-American community more as well. The flag was just not tied to that city. It had to be an inclusive flag. The same was true of other designs presented later. Consider, for example, the Queer People of Colour Flag. Its exact origin is not entirely known, according to the Sexual Diversity website. Around 2019, the flag was introduced in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests.
Source: Sexual Diversity.
2019 was also the year when another, even more famous version of the Pride Flag was introduced.
The Progess Pride Flag
The introduction of Daniel Quasar’s adaptation of the Pride Flag was not immediately accepted by everyone. Some were in favour, while others were not. For instance, a common complaint was that the original Pride Flag should not be adopted. People also questioned why the flag should be modified. On the contrary, others thought why certain parts were not present.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
The Progress Pride Flag combined the modifications made by Gilbert Baker in 1979 with the Philadelphia People of Color Flag. Quasar attempted to make the flag more diverse and inclusive. The flag included important issues, such as a tribute to those who died of HIV/aids and violence. The arrow on the left represents movement, therefore the name (progress). This symbolizes the changes that are needed.
The flag did not stop further thinking about the overarching flag for the community. This was done and led to the introduction of the Global Inclusive Pride Flag.
Global Inclusive Pride Flag
The Global Inclusive Pride Flag is a modification of the Progress Pride Flag. That’s why this flag is sometimes referred to as the Intersex-inclusive LGBT Progress Pride Flag. The official name is the Global Inclusive Pride Flag and this flag was introduced in 2021 by Valentino Vecchietti. The flag shows the Progress Pride Flag but with the intersex symbol/flag. More information about the flag is available on The Home of The Global Inclusive Pride Flag Project.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
More about the Progress Pride Flag ∓ the Global Inclusive Pride Flag
Queer Pride Flag
- Design: unknown
- Introduction: August, 17, 2015
- Colours: black, blue, green, white, orange, pink
The flag designed by Gilbert Baker was updated in 2017 (The Philadelphia People of Color Flag), in 2018 (The Progress Pride Flag) and the Intersex-inclusive Pride Flag makes one almost forget that there was another attempt to create a flag for the whole community.
The flag as presented by Gilbert Baker in the 1970s and later provided with an update in 2017 was thus provided with updates in the form of The Philadelphia People of Colour Flag, The Progress Pride Flag, The Queer People of Colour Flag and the Intersex-Inclusive Pride Flag. With that, you would almost forget that 2015’s Queer Pride Flag was also a replacement for Baker’s flag. Not many know that the flag we nowadays know as the Queer Pride Flag was an attempt to introduce a new symbol for the whole community.
Supposedly, this flag was created by a Devian Art account by the name of Pastelmemer. This designer is also said to have been responsible for the Xenogender Pride Flag. The Queer Pride Flag is assumed to have been created by Pastelmemer. It’s not clear if this is true. So therefore, the person responsible for the design of this flag remains a mystery. There’s more mystery. The flag was supposed to be a replacement for the entire community, but how come it became a flag for queer people instead? Was it intended for queer people from the beginning or not? The person who was responsible for the design could have given out this information, but didn’t. So, this makes it all unclear.
There is more clarity about the date of release and that was on August 17, 2015. We know this from this archived Devian Art page. What happened on this page? Queer was wrongly put down here as MOGAI1. The abbreviation stands for Marginalised Orientations, Gender Alignments, and Intersex. You can read more about this term here.
The Queer Pride Flag was presented on August 17, 2015, albeit in a slightly different motif/design and with a Q in the middle. More information can be found via this archived page. The flag subsequently presented and more widely publicised is not at all based on the Pride Flag and differs from the design by Gilbert Baker istudyhumanhope, now known by the Tumblr name TransToken2. The archived page contains the design of the flag published on October 3, 2016.
The first version, from 2015 differs from the 2016 version. First, let’s look at the meaning of the flag as it is best known:
- Black: the asexual, aromantic and agender communities.
- Blue: same-sex attraction.
- Green: non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals.
- White: asexual, aromantic and agender communities.
- Orange: non-binary and gender non-conforming individuals.
- Pink: same-sex attraction.
Let’s take a moment to analyse the other flag.
- Design: TransToken
- Introduction: October 3, 2016
- Colours: light purple, purple, dark purple, lavender
The choice of colours for this flag makes sense. These are colours that are considered Queer colours. This at least applies to the colour of lavender. White was chosen because it is not actually a colour and thus contains all the colours of the rainbow. The shape is not straight, again a deliberate choice. Bizexuals presented an alternative design with a white background on 5 October 2026. Besides the opposition to the white background, the opposition was to the triangles. The ‘chevrons’ were associated with militaryism and evoked associations with radicalism.
More information about the Queer Pride Flag
Further developments
There have been more developments than just the familiar adaptations of the Pride Flag. What about the Social Justice Pride Flag from 2018? That flag was designed by someone using the following description via the blog platform Medium:
I am a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategist. Trainer and Coach.
Now it is not about the importance of the flag. It is about the idea of adapting the flag as we know it, based on a certain philosophy. Moulee did this on the basis because there is a struggle in India for acceptance and equality for queer persons, as you can read in this post via Medium. An explanation of the changes can be found in this post by Moulee (alternative archived version).
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
In 2018, Julia Felix designed the New Pride Flag, as an alternative to Gilbert Baker’s original Pride Flag. The flag was inspired by events of recent years. The flag was used at some important events, including the Transgender Day of Remembrance in Washington in 2018. Closer to home, the flag was used by COC Amsterdam. This flag was designed by Julia Feliz. Unfortunately, the website about this flag is no longer available. The archived website still is. Records show that that website had not been updated since 2022. This was probably due to the success of the other Pride flags.
To what extent the 2021 flag will be definitive is not clear. What is clear: the number of rainbow flags is slightly dynamic. That is why this article has been divided into several parts since the 2024 update. The first part focuses on the identity flags. The second part focuses on the flags associated with sexual orientation. This makes the articles load faster, thanks to the amount of images.
About the other parts of this series
Other sections focus on identity flags and flags associated with sexual orientation. A separate section is also devoted to additions to the series. This is the fourth volume and in it, among other things, focuses on issues such as MOGAI and Pocket Gender.
About this series
The Rainbow Flags series is divided into four volumes.
The introduction, with the history of the origins of Gilbert Baker's original Pride Flag and subsequent developments.
What is an identity flag and what flags exist? The overview is far from complete, and for good reason.
What are the flags based on sexual orientation? Again, this overview is far from complete.
All about MOGAI, Pocket Gender, Xenogender and other important issues.
