The Rainbow Pride Flag
The rainbow pride flag is iconic symbol of LGBT pride, and has had several different designs throughout the years.
Baker Pride
This is the original pride flag design created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 for the Gay Freedom Day celebration in San Francisco. The pink stripe stood for sexuality, the red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.
6 Stripe
This is the 6 stripe rainbow flag most commonly seen today. Due to shortages in dye, the pink was cut from the design in 1978-79 with the election of Harvey Milk as San Francisco City Supervisor. The turquoise was removed when Baker needed an even number of stripes to display the flag, divided in half, across rows of streetlamps for a parade.
Philly Pride
The philly pride flag was made in 2017 by Amber Hikes and the Philidephia Office of LGBT Affairs. The black and brown stripe were added to be explicitly inclusive of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), and raise awareness to their role in the community.
Progress Pride
The Progress pride flag has also become rather common. Made by Daniel Quasar in 2018, taking the black and brown stripes of the philly pride flag, as well as the colors of the trans pride flag, were moved to a chevron on the left to add more emphasis to them. The black stripe has also come to represent those who have HIV and AIDS, and the chevron represents progression and evolution of the community.
Progress Pride (+Sex Workers)
An alternate less circulated evolution of the pride flag, made in 2020 by Jason Domino, a sex-worker rights advocate. The red umbrella design is a symbol for sex workers who have been abused and harmed in their line of work, as they have been important to LGBTQIA history and culture.
Progress Pride (+Intersex)
A recent evolution of the progress pride flag that includes the intersex flag in the chevron design. It was designed by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK in 2021. Intersex people, though not inherently a part of the community, have very similar struggles and goals to especially trans people, and deserve recognition for their activism.