Home All the main pride flags and what they mean

All the main pride flags and what they mean

What each flag stands for, what its colours mean, and where it comes from, written by people who fly several of them.

Pride flags are a visual shorthand: a way to say who you are, or who a space is for, without saying a word. The rainbow flag came first, in 1978, and many communities have since designed flags of their own, usually to be seen more precisely than a single flag allowed.

Each page below gives the colours and what they are usually said to mean, where the flag comes from when that is reliably documented, and the questions people ask about it. When an origin story is uncertain, we say so rather than repeat a guess.

Pride and allies

Rainbow pride flagThe first pride flag, designed in 1978, and still the one most people mean by the pride flag.Progress Pride flagThe rainbow flag with a chevron that brings people of colour and trans people to the front.Queer flagNine stripes, from black to black, for everyone who uses queer as their word.Straight ally flagBlack and white stripes with a rainbow A: a straight person's way of saying they stand with LGBTQ+ people.Unlabeled flagPale green, white, pale blue and pale orange, for people who choose not to label their gender or sexuality.

Trans, non-binary and intersex

Transgender flagLight blue, pink and white, in a pattern that reads the same whichever way up you fly it.Transmasculine flagPink on the outside, blues inside: a flag for trans men and transmasculine people.Transfeminine flagBlue on the outside, pinks inside: a flag for trans women and transfeminine people.Non-binary flagYellow, white, purple and black: a flag for people whose gender is outside the binary.Genderqueer flagLavender, white and green: androgyny, agender identities and genders outside the binary.Genderfluid flagFive stripes for a gender that moves: femininity, the absence of gender, the mix, all genders and masculinity.Agender flagSeven symmetrical stripes, with black and white for the absence of gender and green for non-binary genders.Bigender flagPinks, lavender, white and blues, for people who have two genders.Pangender flagPale yellow, peach, pink and white: many genders, blended like light.Androgyne flagPink, purple and blue in vertical stripes, for a gender that combines masculine and feminine.Genderflux flagPinks, grey, blues and yellow: a gender whose intensity rises and falls.Neutrois flagWhite, green and black, for a neutral or null gender.Xenogender flagSeven stripes in the colours of iris flowers, with the sign of the asteroid Iris.Demiboy flagGreys, light blue and white: a partial connection to being a boy or a man.Demigirl flagGreys, pink and white: a partial connection to being a girl or a woman.Demigender flagGreys, pale yellow and white: a partial connection to gender.Intersex flagA yellow field and a purple circle, in colours chosen to be free of gender associations.

Attraction and orientation

Lesbian flagOranges, white and pinks: the lesbian flag most people fly today, designed in 2018 to include every lesbian.Gay men's flag (MLM flag)Greens, white, blues and purple: a flag for gay men, trans and non-binary men included by design.Bisexual flagPink, purple and blue, with the purple where the other two overlap.Biromantic flagThe bisexual flag's pink, purple and blue, with a heart for romantic attraction.Pansexual flagPink, yellow and blue: attraction regardless of gender, with a stripe for people outside the binary.Panromantic flagThe pansexual flag's pink, yellow and blue, with a heart for romantic attraction.Omnisexual flagPinks, a deep purple and blues: attraction to all genders, with gender still part of the picture.Polysexual flagPink, green and blue: attraction to many genders, but not necessarily all.Sapphic flagPink and white with a violet in the centre, for women and non-binary people attracted to women.Achillean flagLight blue and off-white with a green carnation, for men and non-binary people attracted to men.Trixic flagPurples, pink and yellows: non-binary people attracted to women.Toric flagPurples, light blue and greens, with the non-binary symbol joined to the Mars symbol.Abrosexual flagA fade from green through white to pink, for an orientation that changes over time.Asexual flagBlack, grey, white and purple, chosen by the asexual community itself in 2010.Graysexual flagPurple, grey and white, for people on the grey area of the asexual spectrum.Demisexual flagThe asexual flag's colours, rearranged around a black chevron.Aromantic flagFive stripes from green to black, with green chosen as the opposite of romance's reds and pinks.Greyromantic flagGreen, grey and white: the graysexual flag's pattern, in the aromantic flag's green.Aroace flagOrange, yellow, white and two blues, for people who are both aromantic and asexual.Demiromantic flagThe demisexual flag's shape, with the aromantic flag's green.

Relationships and communities

Polyamory flagBlue, red and dark purple with a white chevron and a gold heart, and the older flag with a pi it replaced for many.Bear pride flagSeven stripes in the colours of bears' fur, with a black paw print, for the bear community.Leather pride flagBlack and blue stripes, one white stripe and a red heart: the flag of the leather, kink and BDSM community.Butch flagsTwo community flags, one in oranges and browns, one in blues and purples, for butch lesbians and the wider butch community.

Pride flag emojisCopy the trans and rainbow flag emojis, and the heart combinations used for other flags.

Why there are so many flags

A single flag can only say so much. As more people found words for their gender or orientation, many wanted a symbol that named them specifically rather than folding them into a larger group. That is not fragmentation: most people who fly a specific flag also stand under the rainbow.

Some flags have one clear designer and date. Others were posted online, spread, and settled into a common version without anyone being able to say for certain who drew them first. Both kinds are real flags; the second kind just has a less tidy history.

Colours vary, meanings less so

The exact shades of a flag differ between manufacturers and websites, and there is rarely one official hexadecimal value. The colours on these pages are the most commonly published ones. What each colour stands for is more stable, although designers and communities sometimes describe it in slightly different words.

Flying a flag that is not yours

Flying a flag in support of a community you are not part of is common, and usually welcome, especially the rainbow and trans flags. What tends to go badly is using a community's flag to sell something to it, or to speak for it.

Questions people ask

What was the first pride flag?

The rainbow flag, designed by Gilbert Baker and first flown in San Francisco in 1978. Its original version had eight stripes.

What does the trans flag look like?

Five horizontal stripes: light blue, pink, white, pink and light blue. It was designed by Monica Helms in 1999.

What is the Progress Pride flag?

A 2018 redesign of the rainbow flag by Daniel Quasar, adding a chevron of black, brown, light blue, pink and white stripes to include people of colour and trans people.

Are the colours of pride flags official?

Rarely. Most flags have no single official shade, and the colours vary between manufacturers. What each colour stands for is more consistent than its exact tone.

How many pride flags are there?

There is no fixed number. New flags are designed every year, most of them shared online, and only some become widely used. This page gathers the ones people fly and search for most, and says so when a flag's origin is uncertain.