Rainbow pride flag

The first pride flag, designed in 1978, and still the one most people mean by the pride flag.

What the colours mean

Red Life.
Orange Healing.
Yellow Sunlight.
Green Nature.
Blue Serenity and harmony.
Violet Spirit.

Colour codes #E40303#FF8C00#FFED00#008026#24408E#732982

Download the flag PNG WebP SVG

Where it comes from

The rainbow flag was designed by the artist and activist Gilbert Baker and first flown in San Francisco in June 1978, at the city's Gay Freedom Day celebration. Baker deliberately chose not to patent it: he wanted it to belong to everyone.

The original eight stripes

Baker's first version had eight stripes: hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic and art, indigo for serenity and violet for spirit.

Hot pink was dropped early because the fabric was hard to find. Turquoise was later removed, and indigo became a royal blue, giving the six-stripe flag that is most common today.

How it is used

The rainbow flag stands for LGBTQ+ people as a whole. It is the flag most often flown at Pride, and the base of several later designs, including the Progress Pride flag. Many people who fly a more specific flag fly the rainbow as well.

It is also what most people mean by the gay flag. A separate flag made specifically for gay men, trans and non-binary gay men included, has existed since 2019: see the gay men's flag.

Questions people ask

What do the colours of the rainbow flag mean?

Red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, blue for serenity and violet for spirit.

Who designed the rainbow flag?

Gilbert Baker, in 1978, in San Francisco.

Why did the rainbow flag have eight stripes?

Baker's original design included hot pink and turquoise. Both were later removed, partly because the fabric was hard to source, leaving six stripes.

Is the rainbow flag the gay flag?

Usually, yes: "gay flag" most often means the rainbow flag, which has stood for gay people and for the LGBTQ+ community as a whole since 1978. A flag made specifically for gay men, in greens, white, blues and purple, has also existed since 2019.

In the glossary

Allyship Coming out Outing

Other pride flags

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.Transgender flagLight blue, pink and white, in a pattern that reads the same whichever way up you fly it.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.