Different pride flags and what they mean

Today, there are around 32 pride flags representing different sexualities.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Queer Swabhimana Yatra is just around the corner. After a hiatus of three long years, the queer community in the Telugu States will come together on November 13 at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram in the city to celebrate pride.

Representatives of different sexualities across the gender spectrum will be leading the march. With slogan placards and masks, what one would find at a pride march are a broad range of flags.

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The first pride flag was made for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day in 1978 by Gilbert Baker. The flag was designed as a symbol of hope and liberation. The flag does not depict an actual rainbow but shows the colours of the rainbow displayed as horizontal stripes.

In the original eight-colour version, pink stood for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for the spirit of LGBTQ+ people.

However, newer versions of the flag were made over the years to represent other sexualities. With that, it is safe to say that pride flags in general are always evolving.

Today, there are around 32 pride flags representing different sexualities. Here are eight of them that represent the most commonly known sexualities.

Six-colour pride flag

This is the most widely used flag to represent the queer community. It is six broad horizontal lines of different rainbow colours in the order of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.

Progress pride flag

Giving more diversity to the existing six-colour flag, this flag was made by Daniel Quasar. The white, pink and light blue reflect the colours of the transgender flag, while black and brown represent people of colour. There is a 2021 version of the same flag that adds the intersex flag in the triangle.

Transgender pride flag

The transgender flag was created by Monica Helms, a trans woman. Its light blue and pink colours represent the traditional colours for baby boys and girls. The white represents individuals who are transitioning and those who are intersected.

Bisexual pride flag

This flag was introduced in the year 1999 by activist Michael Page. The different coloured bands were meant to symbolise different kinds of attraction: Pink represents same-sex attraction, blue opposite-sex attraction, and purple represents attraction to both sexes.

Pansexual pride flag

The pansexual flag was created in 2010. The pink on the flag represents attraction to women, blue represents attraction to men, and yellow stands for attraction to those who don’t identify with either gender.

Intersex flag

This flag came into being most recently. Yellow has long been seen as an intersex colour or to represent those who do not fit the binary. The purple circle represents the wholeness of the intersex community free from colours like blue and pink which are commonly seen as male and female.

Lesbian pride flag

The lesbian flag features different shades of pink. It earlier came with a red kiss on it and continues to be in use in a few places. The darkest orange means gender non-conformity, the middle orange is for independence, lightest orange is for the community, white stands for unique relationships to womanhood, the lightest pink stands for serenity and peace, middle pink for love and sex, and the darkest pink is for femininity.

Gay men’s pride flag

The gay men’s pride flag is a lesser-known flag. It features different shades of green, blue, and purple. This flag is inclusive of a much wide range of gay men, including but not limited to transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming men.