Why do we have different Pride flags?
“Growing up can be hard for everyone, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, but when you add those two factors into the equation, navigating that can sometimes feel impossible. We first have to feel comfortable within ourselves, and then comes the part of telling other people. We know that the world is still far from equal and coming out in anyway can be a lottery depending on who you tell, where you live and so many other factors. Even if and when we do come out, there are so many obstacles to overcome and challenges to face.
Some people are quite happy not putting a label on themselves and others can find that having a label can help to understand themselves more, feel more free, more connected to those who identify in the same way and perhaps feel a sense of belonging.”
Take a look at just some of the LGBTQIA+ flags. You can click on the little + sign next to the name for more information…
Abrosexual
An Abrosexual person has a fluid sexual orientation and may experience different sexual orientations over time. They may be one sexuality today and be another tomorrow. The timeframe to change an Abrosexual individuals’ sexual orientation doesn’t matter, and it could be hours or years before they identify as different sexuality.
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Ally
People who aren’t a part of the LGBTQA+ community, but do support them.
Straight allies are heterosexual and/or cisgender people who support equal civil rights, gender equality, LGBTQA+ social movements, and challenges homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and any discrimination against the LGBTQA+ community. A straight ally believes that LGBT people face discrimination and thus are socially and economically disadvantaged.
Bigender
A bigender person is someone whose sense of personal identity encompasses two genders. It literally translates as ‘two genders’ or ‘double gender,’ and these genders could be male and female but could also combine non-binary identities.
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Demigender
A demigender is an umbrella term for nonbinary gender identities and denotes individuals who feel only a partial connection to a particular gender identity. The term covers demiboy and demigirl, along with a variety of other demi-gender identities.
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Demiromantic
Feeling romantic attraction to someone only after forming an emotional bond with them.
Demiromantic people may use a pre-fix when describing their romantic identity, such as “demi-homoromantic” to future specify their romantic attraction. Like all romantic identities, demiromantics may have any sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or expression.
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Demisexual
A demisexual is someone who only experiences sexual attraction to people with whom they have close emotional connections. For demisexuals, sexual attraction can only come after an emotional bond has formed.
Genderfluid
Simply put, a genderfluid person is someone who does not identify themselves as having a fixed gender.
Genderfluid people experience gender fluctuations over time. For some genderfluid individuals, gender changes are arbitrary, while for some, they’re extreme. Gender fluctuations may happen slowly over a period of months or years, or they may happen fast in a matter of hours or days.
Genderqueer
A genderqueer person does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but still identifies with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders. The term genderqueer is similar to nonbinary, but has a slightly different meaning and is best considered an umbrella term to cover any identity that isn’t cisgender.
Gilbert Baker
Where the Pride flag began… In 1977, gay politician Harvey Milk tasked veteran Gilbert Baker, activist, drag queen & artist, to come up with a Pride flag. Milk said he felt that queer people “needed something that was positive, that celebrated our love.” Inspired by Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow,” each colour has symbolism: Hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic/art, indigo for serenity, and violet for spirit. Pink and turquoise were removed for production purposes.
Graysexual
Graysexuality, also known as grey asexuality, gray-a, gray-ace, or grey-ace, is a word used to describe persons who identify as Asexual but do not fall into one of the primary kinds of Asexuality. Typically it is a person who experiences limited sexual attraction.
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Intersex
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, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.”
It is estimated that around 1.7% of the population is born with intersex traits.
LGBTQIA+ Progress
This latest version of the Progress flag was created by intersex journalist and media figure Valentino Vecchietti. Intersex Equality Rights UK, an advocacy group, unveiled the flag in late May of 2021. In Vecchietti’s version, a purple circle overlaid over a yellow triangle has been added to the chevron on the left side of Quasar’s design, a nod to Australian Morgan Carpenter’s famous 2013 intersex flag.
Maverique
Maverique is a nonbinary or abinary gender that has a significant gendered experience but is neither male nor female. It is not a lack of gender. It is defined by autonomy and inner conviction about a notion of gender that is unusual, atypical, and exists independently of standard gender conceptions.
Maverique persons (like people of any gender) are free to use whichever pronouns they like and to present themselves in whatever way they want.
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Metagender
This flag is designed to hold space for people who don’t consider themselves cisgender or transgender (whether agender, nonbinary, genderfluid, or identifying in some other way).
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Neutrois
Neutrois is a gender identity that refers to gender neutrality, or neutral gender. It is typically interpreted as indifference to gender or even its absence (nullity), as in agender.
The exact distinction between terminology like agender and neutrois is a point of contention. Some people use these phrases interchangeably; however, there is a distinction between them for others. One of the most commonly mentioned distinctions is that agender is the sense of having no gender at all, while neutrois is the feeling of having a gender identity that is neither male nor female but rather neutral.
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Pansexual
The attraction to people regardless of their gender identity.
Pansexuality differs from bisexuality in that people who identify as pansexual are emotionally or physically attracted to all genders, regardless of sex or gender identity, whereas bisexuality is defined as people who are emotionally or physically attracted to at least two genders.
Philadelphia
The QPOC inclusive LGBTQA+ Pride flag is based on the 6 colour rainbow flag, first created by gilbert baker in 1978. The Philadelphia Pride Flag was unveiled on June 8, 2017 at a pride month kick-off event at Philadelphia City Hall.
The Philadelphia Pride flag adds two stripes, black and brown, to the traditional six of the rainbow flag. The design was created by Philadelphia based PR agency Tierney for Philadelphia’s “More Color More Pride” campaign, which aims to showcase the city’s commitment to people of colour in the queer community. Adding the black and brown stripes is a small but powerful step for inclusivity in the LGBTQA+ community.
Polyamory
A polyamorous person desires or engages in multiple romantic (and typically sexual) relationships with the consent of all the people involved.
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Progress
Graphic artist Daniel Quasar created the Progress Pride Flag in 2018 to honour, highlight and be more inclusive towards Queer People of Colour and the Transgender community. This flag was adapted from the Gilbert Baker Flag and the Philadelphia flag. Quasar said, “This new design forces the viewer to reflect on their own feelings towards the original Pride flag and its meaning as well as the differing opinions on who that flag really represents, while also bringing into clear focus the current needs within our community.”
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QPOC
This flag is a representation of Queer People of Colour. The creator of this flag remains unknown but it represents solidarity with the BLM movement. The raised fist is a sign of unity and support as well as defiance and resistance, and the various colours on the fist represent diversity. According to Them writer Matt Baume: “The modern LGBTQ+ liberation movement was touched off by queer and trans people of color and their struggle continues to this day, with both communities seeking justice, equality, and freedom from oppression. And because many people belong to both communities, they’re not two distinct causes but instead overlap.”
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Queer
Queer is an identity in and of itself that more and more people are choosing to identify with. It is a sort of label for those who don’t want to put themselves in a box. Often considered a movement, queer people are those who fall outside of and/or renounce the cultural norms around sexuality, gender identity, and/or gender expression.
The word queer can mean different things to different people, but the most accepted definition is someone who is not cishet or someone with variant experiences with orientation, gender, and/or sex.
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Questioning
Questioning is the act of figuring out what one’s gender, sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or any aspect of one’s identity is by investigating, educating, or exploring with it.
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Rainbow
The original pride flag, created by Gilbert Baker in 1977 was designed featuring 8 colours, pink, red, orange yellow, green, turquoise, indigo and violet. Unfortunately, pink and turquoise were removed for production purposes leaving the 6 striped Rainbow Pride flag which is now recognised globally.
Trigender
Trigender is a gender identity in which a person switches between or among several genders, including a third gender (genderless, a mix of masculine and feminine, or any other variety of genderqueer identities). Depending on the individual’s mood or environment, a trigender individual may change from one gender to another.
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Two-Spirit
Two-Spirit, also known as Two-Spirited, is an Indigenous North American identity that encompasses sexuality, gender, and/or spirituality. Two-Spirit is a broad concept that embraces homosexual/homoromantic affinity as well as a wide range of gender diversity, including those who are gay, lesbian, bi, trans, genderqueer, GNC, or have multiple gender identities in Western society.
Feel free to take a look at some of our other LGBTQIA+ pages by clicking on the images below.
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