Guide to Pride Flags

Abrosexual Pride Flag

The term abrosexual is given to people who experience changes in who they are attracted to over time. It is the acknowledgment that—for many people—attraction can be fluid. The abrosexual pride flag first started to become popular in 2015. However, experts don’t agree upon one meaning behind each of the colors used on the flag.

Flag colors symbolize: The abrosexual flag is made up of five colors. Dark Green, Light Green, White, Baby Pink, and Rich Pink from top to bottom. It isn’t known why these colors were specifically chosen for the abrosexual flag. Some say, “Green represents a queer attraction, the fade to white is for the in-between stage of attraction shifting, and pink is for the actual shift itself.”

Agender Pride Flag

Agender is an identity in which people do not identify with any gender, existing completely outside of the gender spectrum. The Agender Pride flag was created in 2014 by Salem X. The black and white stripes represent an absence of gender, the gray represents semi-genderlessness, and the central green stripe represents nonbinary genders.

Ally Pride Flag – Heterosexual

Heterosexual allies are cisgender, heterosexual people who actively support the LGBTQ+ community. When these people attend pride events, they can proudly fly the heterosexual ally pride flag. The design loosely conveys the letter ‘A,’ which stands for ally. It also incorporates the black and white stripes, which can be found on the heterosexual flag.

Flag colors symbolize: Black and white stripes represent heterosexuality.  Rainbow ‘A’ symbolizes Ally, highlighting the supportive role heterosexual allies play within the LGBTQ+ community.

There are many variations of the “Ally” flag for the Transgender & BIPOC communities as well.

Alternately for the Heterosexual Transgender Ally flag, the colors in the “A” may be substituted with the blue, pink and white from the Transgender Pride Flag.

Alternate LGBTQ BIPOC Ally Flag:

Trans Ally Flag Alternative:

Aromantic Pride Flag

If a person identifies as aromantic, it means that they don’t experience romantic feelings toward people of any gender. Designed in 2014, the aromantic flag includes five horizontal stripes of different colour tones including green, white, and black. Green symbolizes aromantic feelings as it is often seen as the opposite to red—a typically romantic colour.

Flag colors symbolize: The aromantic pride flag is made up of 5 horizontal stripes of green, white, gray, and black. Dark green: Aromanticism (as a whole).  Light green: Aromantic spectrum.  White: Aesthetic and platonic attraction; queerplatonic relationships. Gray: Demiromantic and grey-aromantic people.
Black: Sexuality spectrum.

Asexual (Ace) Pride Flag

Also known as the “Ace” flag, the asexual flag incorporates the colors grey, black, purple, and white in stripes. The simple design was unveiled back in 2010 after a campaign and a poll took place to create a unified flag for asexual people. The term asexual is given to people who don’t experience attraction.

Flag colors symbolize: Black represents asexuality. White represents non-asexual partners and allies. Gray represents gray-asexuality, demisexuality, and the ace spectrum. Purple represents community.

BDSM Pride Flag

BDSM stands for Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadism and Masochism. BDSM refers to a wide spectrum of activities and forms of interpersonal relationships that play with power or explicitly establish power structures. While not always overtly sexual in nature, the activities and relationships within a BDSM context are almost always eroticized by the participants in some fashion. The BDSM flag was inspired by the Leather Pride flag and BDSM Emblem, specifically intended to represent the concept of BDSM Rights.

Bear Pride Flag

In male gay culture, a bear is a larger, hairier man who projects an image of rugged masculinity. Bears are one of the many LGBTQ+ communities with specific codes, events, and a culture-specific identity. In 1970s San Francisco, any hairy man of whatever shape was referred to as a “bear” until the term was appropriated by larger men and other words had to be found to describe hairy other-shaped men such as otter (slim) or wolf (medium-build).

Bisexual Pride Flag

Michael Page designed the bisexual pride flag and unveiled it back in 1998. Once again, each of the colors represents something. Forty per cent of the flag is pink, 20 per cent is purple, and 40 per cent is blue.

Flag colors symbolize: The attraction to multiple genders and is now widely adopted by bisexual people. Pink represents same-gender attraction. Blue represents sexual attraction to the opposite gender. (In the case of non-binary genders, it refers to sexual attraction to a different gender.) Purple (the overlap between pink and blue) represents sexual attraction to two or more genders.

Demiromantic Pride Flag

The word demiromantic means that you do not have romantic feelings for someone until you have formed a deep connection with them. Including black, grey, white, and green, the flag’s origins are unclear. However, some individuals say that each of the colors represents a different part of the romantic—and demiromantic—spectrum as a whole.

Flag colors symbolize: Darker green represents a lack of romance.  White represents platonic, aesthetic, and queer platonic relationships.  Gray represents demiromantic people.  Black represents the sexuality spectrum.

Demisexual Pride Flag

Demisexuality means being attracted to someone only if you have a deep, emotional connection to them. You may be attracted to people of any gender.

The colors that are used in the flag represent different areas of the community.

Flag colors symbolize: Black represents asexuality and the ace spectrum to which demisexuals belong. Gray represents demisexuality. White represents sexuality. Purple represents community.

Gay Men’s Pride Flag

Showcasing green, blue, and purple tones, the gay men’s pride flag is exactly what the name says. The design is a celebration of gay men of all backgrounds. While there was previously a gay men’s flag that consisted mainly of blue hues, the new edition is more inclusive of transgender, intersex, and gender-nonconforming individuals.

Flag colors symbolize: Turquoise to green: These colors represent community, healing, and joy. White: Represents gender nonconforming, non-binary, and transgender folks. Blue to purple: Symbolizes pure love, fortitude, and diversity.

The alternate flag is the traditional Pride flag with double “Mars” symbols representing male to male attraction.

Gender Binary Pride Flag

The Gender Binary Pride Flag recognizes only two possible gender identities with no variation in between.

Flag colors symbolize: Pink: Female gender identity and attraction to men. Blue: Male gender identity and attraction to women.

Gender Non-Binary / Non-Conforming Pride Flag

The term “nonbinary” or “enby” can mean different things to different people, it is typically used to describe someone whose gender identity isn’t exclusively male or female. Kye Rowan created the Non-Binary Pride Flag in 2014 to be flown alongside the genderqueer flag – not to replace it.

This flag represents non-binary people who don’t feel represented by the genderqueer flag. Taken together, these four colors of the flag aim to include and specifically depict the experience of non-binary people.

Flag colors symbolize:
Yellow stands for people whose gender doesn’t exist within the binary. White represents people with all genders or many genders. Purple stands for people with genders that may be a mix of female and male. Black represents people that identify as not having any gender at all.

Genderfluid Pride Flag

Gender fluidity refers to individuals who experience a change in gender identity or expression over time. The flag incorporates pink, white, purple, black, and blue—each of which represents a different part of the gender spectrum.

Flag colors symbolize: Pink: Represents femininity or feeling female. White: Represents lack of gender and all genders. Purple: Represents a combination of masculinity and femininity, including various degrees of androgyny. Black: Represents all other genders, third genders, and pangender. Blue: Represents masculinity or feeling male.

Genderflux Pride Flag

Genderflux is a catch-all term for gender identities in which one’s gender or sense of the intensity of one’s gender changes over time. A person who is genderflux experiences a range of intensity within a gender identity. It is unknown who created the genderflux pride flag, and there are now three new versions; however, the original is the most commonly used. Dark pink represents women; light pink represents demigirls (someone who identifies as both woman and agender); grey represents agender; light blue represents demiboys (someone who identifies as both man and agender); dark blue represents men; and yellow represents non-binary genders.

Genderqueer Pride Flag

The genderqueer pride flag was designed in 2011 by Marilyn Roxie. Genderqueer means non-binary and is an umbrella term. It can be used by people with a selection of gender identities. The design was finalized in 2011

Flag colors symbolize: The flag has three stripes of lavender, white, and dark green chartreuse. Lavender represents androgyny and queerness. White represents agender identity or gender neutrality. Green is the inverse of lavender and represents those whose identities which are defined outside the binary.

Heterosexual (Straight) Pride Flag

The straight flag or heterosexual flag were created to honor and promote “straight pride” – a concept often rooted in homophobic and transphobic ideology and feelings. Despite attempts by many different individuals and groups, the is no official or generally recognized symbol of “straight or hetrosexual pride”.

One version of the flag depicts alternating rows of black and white representing binary gender and opposite sex relations with no alternatives between them.

An alternate version uses the black and white stripes with the interlocking symbol for female and male.

Intersex Pride Flag

The most used intersex pride flag is designed with a yellow background and a purple circle at the center created in 2013 by Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia. Intersex people are still fighting for bodily autonomy and genital integrity, and this symbolizes the right to be who and how we want to be.”

Intersex is a term that may be used to describe a person with both male and female sex characteristics at birth. Many individuals born have several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, “do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.”

Flag colors symbolize: Yellow and Purple to represent the intersex flag because none of these colors represent the traditional constructs of binary identities (female and male).

The circle on the intersex flag is also described as “unbroken and unornamented, symbolizing wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities.

There is also this intersex pride flag:

Intersex Progress Pride Flag

The Intersex Progress flag is an updated version of the Progress Pride flag that includes a yellow triangle and purple circle to represent the intersex community.

Intersex people are born with a combination of male and female traits, including hormones, chromosomes, and genitals.

The Intersex Pride flag is a purple circle on a yellow backdrop, designed by advocacy group Intersex Human Rights Australia in 2013. The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag was designed in 2021 by Valentino Vecchietti and incorporates a field of yellow and a purple circle to symbolize intersex inclusion.

Labrys Lesbian Pride Flag

The labrys lesbian flag was designed in 1999 by graphic designer Sean Campbell, a cisgender gay man, and distributed in June 2000 in the Palm Springs edition of the Gay and Lesbian Times Pride issue.

The design includes a labrys, a double-headed ax, placed over an inverted black triangle, set against a violet background. Among its many meanings, the labrys was the weapon of choice for the Amazons of Greek mythology, a group of female warriors and hunters whose society was closed to men. It has been a symbol of empowerment used by lesbian feminists since the 1970s.

The inverted black triangle was the symbol worn by women considered asocial by the Nazis (including homosexual females). They were condemned to concentration camps, similar to the pink triangle assigned to gay men. As gay men have reclaimed their symbol, many lesbians have also reclaimed this.

The symbol on the labrys lesbian flag has set on the color violet, which has been associated with lesbians via the poetry of Sappho.

This flag is not widely used now, possibly because a lesbian did not create it – but also because of concerns of its imagery rooted in the Holocaust. It is frequently used by trans-exclusionary lesbians or trans-exclusionary feminists, partly due to the Amazon’s mythology where the women would either kill their sons or return them to their fathers, with whom they would only socialize briefly in order to reproduce.

Leather Pride Flag

The leather pride flag is flown by individuals who are part of the LGBTQ+ leather subculture. It was developed by Tony DeBlase in the 1980s, when the leather scene was growing in gay communities. It debuted at the 1989 International Mr. Leather event. Since then, people who subscribe to this subculture have used the flag at pride events.

Flag colors symbolize: The flag is made up of nine equal-width horizontal stripes.
The stripes change between black and royal blue from top to bottom. White or Yellow is the middle stripe. A huge red heart appears in the upper left quadrant of the flag.

The creator of this flag stated the intention was to let the spectator decide how to interpret the colors and symbols.

Lesbian Pride Flag

The lesbian pride flag was adapted from the lipstick lesbian flag which came out in 2010. The latter was created using various shades of lipstick. However, it was later expanded to include more colors when some argued that the term ‘lipstick’ carried negative connotations. See the Sunburst Lesbian Pride Flag for the new version.

This is another version of this flag:

There is also this lesbian butch flag, which incorporates the
labrys, from the labrys lesbian flag:

Nonbinary Pride Flag

Nonbinary describes those who do not identify on the gender binary of woman and man. Nonbinary people’s gender identity may be completely outside of the gender binary, or fall on the spectrum between man and woman. Nonbinary is often used as an umbrella term encompassing many identities, including agender, bigender, genderqueer, and genderfluid, among others. The Nonbinary Pride flag was created in 2014 by Kye Rowan, meant to represent nonbinary people who didn’t feel represented by the genderqueer flag. The colors symbolize gender outside of the gender binary (yellow), people who hold many or all gender identities (white), genders that are considered a mix of man and woman (purple), and people who are agender (black).

Omnisexual Pride Flag

Omnisexual refers to a person who can experience romantic, sexual, or affectional desires for people of all genders and sexes. This is sometimes inclusive of sexual attraction to traits or behavior beyond gender, including styles, objects or practices. The flag was designed in 2015, and the original creator never attached definitions to the colors. According to current community consensus, light pink and light blue represent the gender spectrum; pink represents attraction to femininity and women; blue represents attraction to masculinity and men; and dark purple represents attraction to people whose gender falls outside of the categories above.

Original Pride Flag

Artist Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man and a drag queen, designed the first rainbow flag. He later revealed that he was urged by Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., to create a symbol of pride for the gay community. Baker decided to make that symbol a flag because he saw flags as the most powerful symbol of pride.

The first versions of the rainbow flag were flown on June 25, 1978, and featured 8 colors for the stripes, each color with its own meaning (hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit) for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade. Baker and a team of volunteers had made them by hand.

Pansexual Pride Flag

Pansexuality has been an official term since at least the 1960s according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The term is used by people who are open to being attracted to and loving people of all genders. The pansexual pride flag includes the colors pink, yellow, and blue in a striped pattern.

Flag colors symbolize: Pink: Represents attraction to women. Yellow: Represents attraction to non-binary individuals, such as those who are agender, bigender, or genderfluid. Blue: Represents attraction to men.

There is also the Super Pansexual Pride Flag. The cross of the tail or the symbol of Venus was used to symbolize women, and the arrow, or the symbol of Mars for males. Both symbols for pansexuality are sometimes combined through a three-colored P symbol.

Philadelphia Pride Flag

The city of Philadelphia approved a redesigned version of the flag created by the marketing agency Tierney in June 2017, which adds black and brown stripes to the top of the traditional six-color flag to call attention to concerns affecting LGBT people of color. It was introduced as part of a citywide “More Color More Pride” campaign — and was borne of protest after several high-profile stories exposing racism in Philly’s Gayborhood.

It was rapidly adopted around the world and gave representation to black and brown people in the LGBTQ community and their experiences. It is still frequently used; however, it has been built upon to be more inclusive of the transgender community just a few years later with the Pride ProgressFlag.

Polyamorous Pride Flag

Designed in 1995 by Jim Evans, the polyamory pride flag is about celebrating ethically non-monogamous relationships. Each of the colors in the flag represents a different aspect of these connections. The blue symbolizes honesty, the red symbolizes passion, the black symbolizes solidity, and the gold symbolizes the valued relationship.

Flag colors symbolize:
The polyamorous flag has four colors: blue, red, yellow, and black.
Blue represents openness, honesty, and communication between all partners. Red symbolizes love and passion. Black stands for solidarity among those who celebrate polyamory at its core. Yellow represents the value placed on emotional attachment to others and solidarity with those who must hide those relationships from the outside world.

Also note this version:

Polysexual Pride Flag

Polysexuality describes those who have romantic, sexual, or affectional desire for more than one gender. The Polysexual Pride flag was created on Tumblr in 2012. The stripes’ symbolic meaning are similar to the Pansexual Pride flag, but with green replacing yellow to differentiate them.

Pride Flag – Revised

Working off the original 8 color Pride flag, Gilbert, because of production issues, the pink and turquoise stripes were removed, and indigo was replaced by basic blue, which resulted in the contemporary six-striped flag (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet).

Today this is the most common variant of the rainbow flag, with the red stripe on top, as in a natural rainbow. The various colors came to reflect both the immense diversity and the unity of the LGBTQ community.

Progress Pride Flag

Developed in 2018 by Daniel Quasar, the progress pride flag is based on the original rainbow pride flag. However, it has been expanded to incorporate the ever-growing diversity within the LGBTQ+ community. The new colors have been added to the flag to symbolize trans, gender non-binary, and intersex people among other groups.

Queer People of Color Pride Flag

This version of the flag, created in recent years, is one design out of many that represent solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and the intersection of the queer and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities. This design also pays tribute to the queer and trans people of color who began the modern LGBTQ+ liberation movement.

Questioning Pride Flag

The questioning flag represents people who feel that they fall outside of the heterosexual and binary gender norms. It does not force them to put a label on themselves before they feel ready.

No matter the design, the questioning flag shows the importance of including questioning people in the LGBTQ community. Moreover, it increases their social visibility. After all, most people don’t “know” their gender or sexuality immediately. We all go through a process of questioning and self-discovery first.

Rainbow Pride Flag – 11 colors

The first LGBTQ Pride events took place in June 1969 after the infamous Stonewall riots. Chances are, you are already familiar with the widely-used rainbow pride flag. It was nine years later that artist Gilbert Baker created the official pride flag. He later said that he had been urged by politician Harvey Milk to create a symbol of pride for the gay community.

Rubber Pride Flag

The rubber pride flag represents LGBTQ+ people who enjoy wearing rubber or latex. Dating to 1995, it was designed by Peter Tolos and Scott Moats.

Rubber Pride is not exclusive to any gender or sexuality.

Flag colors symbolize: Black represents the lust for the look and feel of shiny black rubber. Yellow (or alternately a White) stripe represents the drive for intense rubber play and fantasies. Red represents the blood passion for rubber and rubbermen.

Sunburst Lesbian Pride Flag

(Latest) Lesbian Pride Flag — The original was a red kiss superimposed on six shades of red and pink colors and a white bar in the center was introduced in a weblog in 2010. It was modified by removing the kiss. In a 2018 article on Medium, an author proposed this flag as “A Lesbian Flag for Everyone”. The flag seen here, has been voted on by approx. 5000 people as a possibility for new lesbian flag.

Flag colors symbolize: Dark orange: gender non-conformity. Orange: independence. Light orange: community. White: unique relationships to womanhood. Pink: serenity and peace. Dusty pink: love and sex. Dark rose: femininity.

Super Transgender Pride Flag

Incorporates the Transgender symbol on top of the traditional Transgender flag.

The trans symbol is a pictogram consisting of a circle with an arrow sprouting from the top-right side representing male/masculine, a cross at the bottom representing female/feminine, and a stroked arrow at the top-left side representing androgyny.

This symbol was designed by Holly Boswell, Wendy Parker, and Nangeroni herself sometime in the 1990s. Nangeroni credits Boswell for first drawing the symbol for Parker, who then convinced Nangeroni to create a digital version.

Third Gender Pride Flag

Many countries around the world also recognize Third Gender people, a category who do not identify as male or female, but rather as neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders. Individuals are categorized by themselves, their society, or outsiders to their society, as not fitting into the Western ideas of binary gender and heterosexual roles.

The phrase “third gender” has been used for a wide variety of meanings, including in reference to: hundreds of indigenous societal roles as described (and often misrepresented) by Western anthropologists; transgender people who are nonbinary; and women who are considered to be gender-nonconforming. The term can be considered offensive. When possible, use the culturally appropriate and/or individually preferred term when referring to someone’s gender identity in lieu of “third gender.”

Examples may include:
Hijra – Third Gender In India
Mahu – Hawaii’s Third Gender
North America’s Two-Spirit
Muxes of Mexico
Kathoey of Thailand

Flag colors symbolize: The trigender pride flag has five stripes and three colors which stand for: Pink signifies femininity and female genders. Blue signifies masculinity and male genders. Green signifies androgyny and third/other genders.

There is also this third gender pride flag:

Transgender Pride Flag

Created by Monica Helms in 1999, the transgender flag is now recognized by people all around the globe. Much like the genderfluid flag, it features colors that each represent a different aspect of gender.

Helms purposefully designed the flag so that regardless of how it’s held, it looks the same. “The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it will always be correct. This symbolizes us trying to find correctness in our own lives.”

Flag colors symbolize:
Light Blue is the traditional color for baby boys. Pink is for girls. White in the middle is for those who are transitioning, those who feel they have a neutral gender or no gender, and those who are intersexed.

Also see the Super Transgender Pride Flag.

Twink Pride Flag

In male gay culture, twinks are a subset of gay males that challenge traditional masculinity. Usage of the term varies, but traits attributed to twinks can include attractiveness, having little or no body or facial hair, a slim to average build, or appearing to be younger than their chronological age.

Two-Spirit Pride Flag – LGBTQIA+

Created in 2016, the Two-Spirit pride flag is a celebration of Indigenous North American culture and the LGBTQ+ community.

The design usually consists of the rainbow pride flag with overlaid imagery of two feathers and a circle. The circle symbolizes togetherness while the feathers represent man and woman.

Flag colors symbolize: The Two-Spirit Pride flag utilizes the colors and design of the traditional Pride flag and uses two black and white feathers to represent masculine and feminine identities. The circle symbolizes the unification of masculine and feminine identities into a separate gender.

Also note this version of the flag: