21 LGBTQ Flags: The Names and Symbolism Behind Each

The most recognizable of the Pride Flags, the Gilbert Baker Pride Flag was unfurled for the first time at the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978, according to MOMA. Gilbert Baker, an openly gay veteran, artist and activist, created the flag to encompass meaningful aspects of his community. The colors signify:

• Pink: Sex
• Red: Life
• Orange: Healing
• Yellow: Sunlight
• Green: Nature
• Turquoise: Magic
• Blue: Harmony
• Violet: Spirit

"A Rainbow Flag was a conscious choice, natural and necessary," Gilbert said, of his original flag. "The rainbow came from earliest recorded history as a symbol of hope." Once demand for Baker's flag continued to rise, the pink and turquoise stripes were removed to make it easier to mass-produce. This is the flag you'll probably see flying the most frequently.

While the original 1978 flag encompassed a variety of aspects of the LGBTQ+ community, its BIPOC members were not historically included. In 2017, a new flag was unveiled at Philadelphia City Hall with the addition of black and brown stripes to symbolize people of color. The Philly Pride flag was commissioned in partnership between Philadelphia’s Office of LGBT Affairs and design agency Tierney, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer.

In the interest of greater inclusion, the Progress Pride Flag includes not only black and brown stripes, but also the colors of the trans flag. The man behind the design, Oregon-based designer Daniel Quasar, explained that the design is intended to improve the flag's unity. “I wanted to see if there could be more emphasis in the design of the flag to give it more meaning,” he explained in his 2018 kickstarter campaign.

While the designer of this inclusive pride flag is unclear, it rose to prominence after the widespread racial justice protests in 2020. The raised fist in the center represents solidarity with BIPOC LGBTQ+ people.

RELATED: What Does BIPOC Mean

The trans pride flag, with baby blue, pink and white stripes, was designed by trans woman Monica Helms in August 1999, according to Point of Pride. It first flew at a Phoenix, Arizona LGBTQ+ pride celebration the following year. The stripes' colors signify the traditional colors for baby boys and girls, as well as a white stripe. “The stripe in the middle is white, for those who are intersex, transitioning or consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender. The pattern is such that no matter which way you fly it, it is always correct, signifying us finding correctness in our lives,” Helms explained.

While several different lesbian flags exist, this one is the most inclusive and has become more popular in recent years. In 2018, artist Emily Gwen designed the flag to encompass lesbians, including trans lesbians, from across the spectrum of identities. Its colors represent:

• Gender nonconformity
• Independence
• Community
• Unique relationships to womanhood
• Serenity and peace
• Love and sex
• Femininity

In Greek mythology, the double-headed battle axe known as a labrys was the symbol of the Greek goddess, Demeter, and the Amazons, a tribe of warrior women. The lesbian radical feminist movement of the 1970s adopted it as a symbol of empowerment, and the symbol still appears on flags today.

The bisexual pride flag was designed by Michael Page and unveiled in 1998, according to Pride.com. The top 40% of the flag is pink, the middle 20% is purple and the bottom 40% is blue, representing attraction to multiple genders as well as the overlap between the two traditional "boy and girl" colors. The pink also nods to the pink triangles later adopted by AIDS activist group ACT UP in the 1980s. And the purple can also allude to the "purple menace," a slang term for bisexual people.

The flag that represents people who are attracted to all genders, or pansexual, was designed by Jasper V in 2010, who posted it to tumblr. Its colors represent:

• Pink for attraction to femme-identifying people
• Blue for attraction to male-identifying people
• Yellow for attraction to non-binary and/or genderqueer people

A polysexual person is attracted to many — but not all — genders. It was designed by tumblr user Samlin and posted there in 2012. “I, as a poly individual, was greatly saddened by the fact that we don’t have a flag…so I made one," they wrote. "I made it similar to the bi and pan flags, since they’re all in under the multisexual umbrella." The colors and design of the flag are based off the bisexual and pansexual flags, borrowing the blue and pink, and replacing the purple and yellow stripes with a green one.

Asexual individuals, who do not experience sexual attraction to all genders, also got their own flag in 2010. It was unveiled in 2010 after a contest held by the Asexual Visibility and Education Network to create a flag for the asexual community and each of the stripes signifies a different segment of the ACE spectrum and values it holds dear:

• Black: Asexuality
• Gray: Gray-asexuality and demisexuality
• White: Non-asexual partners and allies
• Purple: Community

The demisexual flag has the same colors as the asexual flag, but its own configuration to differentiate it. While it's unclear where the flag itself came from, user sonofzeal coined the term in 2006 on the forums of AVEN. The writer explained that he felt neither completely asexual nor completely non-asexual, so "demisexual" helped him more accurately describe needing that emotional connection in order to also experience sexual attraction.

In 2014, an agender artist from New York named Salem, designed the agender pride flag in response to a growing number of identities that they didn't feel were represented by the existing flag options. “I figured if there was a time to come up with a flag for genderless people, this was it!” The colors represent:

• Black and white: An absence of gender
• Gray: Semi-genderlessness
• Green: Non-binary identities

We also have tumblr to thank for the aromantic flag, which was first created and posted by Tumblr user cameronwhimsy in 2014. The creator clarified that the colors are intended to symbolize:

• Greens: Aroromanticism and the aro-spectrum
• White: The “platonic” stripe covering all non-romantic relationships
• Gray and black: The full sexuality spectrum, including “aro-aces, allosexuals and everything in between”

In 2013, the Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia chose yellow and purple as the intersex flag colors because they aren't traditionally associated with any one gender, according to Queerintheworld.com. The circle is described by the center as “unbroken and unornamented, symbolizing wholeness and completeness and our potentialities. We are still fighting for bodily autonomy and genital integrity, and this symbolizes the right to be who and how we want to be."

Genderfluid people's gender identity can fluctuate depending on the day or circumstance, and the different colors of this flag represent that. It was created in 2012 by JJ Poole, an agender pansexual advocate who wanted it to encompass all gender identities. Its colors represent:

• Pink for femininity
• Blue for masculinity
• Purple for femininity and masculinity
• Black for lack of gender
• White for all genders

Kye Rowan, 17, created the nonbinary pride flag in 2014 to represent nonbinary folk who did not feel that the genderqueer flag represented them.T he flag consists of four stripes with different meanings:

• Yellow for those whose gender exists outside of and without reference to the binary
• White for those who have many or all genders
• Purple for those who feel their gender is between or a mix of female and male
• Black for those who identify as having no particular gender

While there are several flags representing polyamory, or those who form ethnically non-monogamous relationships with multiple people simultaneously, this is the original. It was created by Jim Evans in 1995. The colors symbolize:

• Blue, representing the openness and honesty among all partners Red, representing love and passion
• Black, representing solidarity with those who must hide their polyamorous relationships from the outside world due to societal pressures

The gold "pi" symbol in the center of the flag represents the value poly people place on emotional attachment, as well as physical relationships.

A new version of the polyamory pride flag came on the scene in 2017, after the University of Northern Colorado Poly Community redesigned it with an infinity symbol in the middle instead of the original pi. The infinity sign is a recognized one in the poly and ENM community, and represents the infinite love for multiple partners at the same time.

While the flag's origins are unclear, the ally flag arose in the 2000s to stand for those who identify as straight and cisgender but want to express their support for the LGBTQ+ community.