LGBTQ+ flags – everything you need to know

We know you’ll recognise the fabulous rainbow stripes of the Gay Pride Flag, but did you know that there are more than 10 other LGBTQ+ flags out there? Join us as we take a look at the significance of the lesser-known but equally important LGBTQ+ flags.

The Gay Pride Flag

The origins of the most famous LGBTQ+ flag lie in the 1977 Gilbert Baker Pride Flag, which was inspired by Judy Garland's song, Over the Rainbow. It had eight symbolic colours: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for serenity and violet for spirit. Today’s flag has six colours – the pink and turquoise stripes were only removed to make it easier to mass produce the flag.

The Progress Pride Flag

Created in 2018 by queer non-binary artist, Daniel Quasar, the Progress Pride Flag is the most inclusive LGBTQ+ flag. It includes black and brown stripes for race as well as pink and blue stripes for trans, all in an arrow formation merging into the traditional Gay Pride Flag to symbolise development and moving forwards.

The Lesbian Pride Flag

There have been many lesbian flag designs over the years, but the current flag – created in 2018 – has shades of red, orange, white and pink. The colours were originally said to reflect shades of lipstick, but they have a deeper meaning: dark orange for gender non-conformity, mid-orange for independence, pale orange for community, white for unique relationships to womanhood, pale pink for peace and serenity, mid-pink for love and sex, and dark pink for femininity.

The Bisexual Pride Flag

Dating back to 1998, the Bisexual Pride Flag has just three colours. Pink represents same-sex attraction, blue represents opposite-sex attraction, and the two colours fade into each other and create violet to represent attraction to both sexes.

The Transgender Pride Flag

The Trans Pride Flag uses the stereotypical pale pink for baby girls and pale blue for baby boys. The white represents people who are transitioning, gender neutral or non-binary. This symmetrical flag was created in 1999 by trans navy veteran, Monica Helms, and it was around this time that the ‘T’ was formally added to the initialism, LGBT.

The Intersex Flag

The Intersex Flag was created in 2013 by advocacy group, Intersex Human Rights Australia. It intentionally steers clear of stereotypical gender colours to celebrate living outside the binary. The circle represents the intersex community as being whole and complete.

The Non-Binary Pride Flag

This pride flag was created by 17-year-old Kye Rowan in 2014 for non-binary people who didn't feel fully represented by the genderqueer flag. Yellow is for genders outside the binary, white is for people who identify with many genders, purple is for people who are a mix of male and female, and black is for people without a gender.

The Genderqueer Pride Flag

Artist and filmmaker Marilyn Roxie created the Genderqueer Pride Flag in 2011. As with other LGBTQ+ flags, the stripes have their own meanings: lavender for androgyny, white for agender and green for non-binary.

The Genderfluid Pride Flag

JJ Poole created the Genderfluid Pride Flag in 2012. The flag goes from pink to represent femininity, to blue to represent masculinity. White represents all genders, purple represents masculinity and femininity, and black represents a lack of gender.

The Agender Pride Flag

Designer Salem X has created a symmetrical flag to represent rejection of gender. Green is for non-binary, grey is for semi-genderless, and black and white are both for non-binary.

The Pansexual Pride Flag

Nobody seems to know for sure who created the Pansexual Flag in around 2010, but we do know what the colours represent: pink stands for attraction to women, yellow stands for attraction to other genders and blue stands for attraction to men.

The Asexual Pride Flag

The Asexual Flag was created during a contest in 2010 by a member of the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network. Black represents asexuality, grey represents grey-asexuality or demisexuality, white represents allies and purple represents the entire asexual community.

We know our LGBTQ+ flags, but we know even more about LGBTQ+ holidays. Get in touch – we love nothing more than chatting about holidays and will take care of the small details so that you can have an incredible time away.