Pride month parade, people protesting
Pride month parade, people protesting

Every LGBTQ+ Flag You Might See At Pride & What They All Mean

Flags are a symbol of community and united individuals.

June welcomes Pride Month, a time for celebration of the queer community and protests for inclusivity.

While we should be actively showing support and celebrating the community all year round, Pride Month is a dedicated time for the queer community to participate in marches and protests to fight for their rights. Or to celebrate and honour the community.

A huge part of Pride Month and a fundamental symbol for the community are the colourful flags you’ll see in abundance throughout the month. You may be familiar with some already. Most notably, the LGBTQ+/Gay Pride flag which is the collective symbol for the community and consists of rainbow stripes.

There are different flags for different communities, and it’s okay if you’re unfamiliar with them. We’re here to give you the lowdown on what flags you might see and what they mean. Take notes.

What does LGBTQ+ mean?

LGBTQ+ is an umbrella term for individuals within the queer community. You may see different variations of the term, with more or less letters, as different identities are included.

What once started out as LGBT has now grown as more sexualities and identities are represented. LGBTQ+ stands for:

  • Lesbian
  • Gay
  • Bisexual
  • Transgender
  • Queer (or questioning)
  • + other identities

The + symbol is inclusive of other gender identities and sexual orientations, but you may also see it written as LGBTQIA+, where the I and A stand for Intersex and Asexual.

Pride month parade protests in street

What does queer mean?

Queer, nowadays, is used as a collective term for individuals who identify as anything outside of heterosexual (straight) or cis-gender (identifying as the sex you were assigned at birth).

Queer can be a helpful term for those who are unsure of their sexuality and identity, as it embraces any orientation or identity that’s ‘not straight’. Essentially, anyone on the LGBTQ+ spectrum would consider themselves queer, or otherwise a specific identity.

It’s an inclusive term that can reduce the pressure of direct labels.

LGBTQ+ flags and what they mean

LGBTQ+/Gay Pride flag

Gay pride flag

This flag is the most familiar one in the community and is inclusive of everyone who considers themselves queer.

The creator of the flag, Gilbert Baker, designed the flag to be symbolic of certain attributes and elements. The six colours symbolise:

  • Red = Life
  • Orange = Healing
  • Yellow = Sunlight
  • Green = Nature
  • Indigo = Serenity
  • Violet = Spirit

Bisexual flag

Person holding bisexual pride flag

Bisexuals — attracted to both men and women (or more than one sex/gender) — have their own flag to increase their visibility and sense of community.

The flag consists of pink, purple and blue. The pink symbolises the attraction to the same sex, and the blue represents the attraction of the opposite sex. The purple stripe symbolises the attraction to both sexes (an overlap of pink and blue).

Trans flag

Trans flag at Pride protest

Transgender people are individuals whose gender identity is different to the sex registered for them at birth. For example, people who were assigned female at birth may identify as male, and vice versa.

The transgender flag consists of light blue, light pink and white stripes. The blue represents trans men, the pink for trans women, and the white stripe represents the non-binary individuals, or those who are transitioning or have no gender.

Progress pride flag

Progress pride flag hanging from window

The progress pride flag is a ‘rebooted’ version of the gay pride flag, but with an added five-coloured chevron. The chevron has colours of the trans flag, plus a brown and black stripe to represent queer people of colour, as well as transgender people.

Lesbian flag

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Michelle Visage (@michellevisage)

There are many variations of the lesbian flag. However, the majority consist of orange, pink and white stripes.

It’s believed that the colours represent femininity, love and sex, relationships unique to womanhood, community, gender non-conformity, and peace and serenity.

Intersex flag

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Michelle Visage (@michellevisage)

Individuals who identify as intersex are people who are born with variations in sex characteristics that don’t fit the typical ‘male/female’ definitions. An example would be someone who is born appearing as female on the outside, but has male-typical anatomy inside.

The flag is bright yellow with a purple circle in the middle. It intentionally avoids gendered colours (pink and blue) to celebrate the community, and the unbroken circle symbolises the wholeness and completeness of the community.

Pansexual flag

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Michelle Visage (@michellevisage)

Pansexuality is typically the attraction towards people of all genders, sex and gender identities. Some pansexual individuals call themselves ‘gender-blind’, as they’re attracted to people regardless of their gender.

The flag has three stripes of pink, yellow and blue, with people believing that the blue signifies attraction to men, the pink to women and the yellow inclusive of all other genders.

Asexual flag

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Mary Michele (@spicygingertherapist)

People identifying as asexual are people who have limited or no sexual feelings or desires.

The black stripe symbolises asexuality, the grey represents grey-asexuality (demisexuality), the white is for allies, and the purple is for the community as a whole.

Polysexual flag

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Pride Flags (@all_the_pride_flags)

Polysexual people are attracted to two or more genders, not necessarily all of them though. It can sometimes be considered as an umbrella term for bisexual and pansexual identities.

The pink stripe represents attraction to women, the blue is the attraction to men, and the green stripe is the attraction to people of other genders.

Polyamorous flag

polyamory_pride_flag

Polyamorous people are those who have open sexual/romantic relationships with more than one person at a time. They can also identify as another LGBTQ+ label, such as lesbian or bisexual. 

The flag consists of a blue, red and black stripe, with a yellow pi symbol in the middle. The symbol is the first letter in the Greek word for polyamory, while the blue stripe represents honesty, the red represents love, and the black is the fight against discrimination.

Non-binary flag

People identifying as non-binary may identify with more than one gender, have no gender, or have a flexible gender identity.

The flag’s yellow stripe symbolises gender separate from the gender binary, white represents those with multiple genders, the purple stripe reflects those who are a mix of male and female, and the black stripe is for those who don’t identify with any gender at all.

There are many different terms and ways to identify that we haven’t mentioned here but these are the ones more commonly used. We apologise if we’ve missed any from this article — we are constantly educating ourselves and don’t wish to purposefully miss any communities out of this representation.

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