Home Pride flags and what they mean

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.

Transgender flagLight blue, pink and white, in a pattern that reads the same whichever way up you fly it.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.Bisexual flagPink, purple and blue, with the purple where the other two overlap.Pansexual flagPink, yellow and blue: attraction regardless of gender, with a stripe for people outside the binary.Asexual flagBlack, grey, white and purple, chosen by the asexual community itself in 2010.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.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.Genderqueer flagLavender, white and green: androgyny, agender identities and genders outside the binary.Intersex flagA yellow field and a purple circle, in colours chosen to be free of gender associations.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.Non-binary flagYellow, white, purple and black, designed by Kye Rowan in 2014.Lesbian flagsWhy there are several lesbian flags, and which one is most used today.

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.