Gay symbol color

Here, we collect them together, as well as speak with artist Guillaume Vandame about his installation, symbols, that celebrates their power. Since then, as our understanding of identity has expanded, many more flags have been created to represent the diversity of the community. Not only do these flags represent the spectrum of sexuality, but gender and desire too. Though some may consider 28 to be a large number of flags, in reality, there are many more flags celebrating different identities than there are days in one month.

With many different identities in the community, there comes many different flags to know. We know that this may not be all of the flags that represent our community, but we will update the page as new flags become popular! Explore the flag collection below! See a flag's name by hovering or clicking on the flag.

The rainbow flag has become the easily-recognized colors of pride for the gay community. The rainbow plays a part in many myths and stories related to gender and sexuality issues in Greek, Aboriginal, African, and other cultures. Use of the rainbow flag by the gay community began in when it first appeared in the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade. Borrowing symbolism from the hippie movement and black civil rights groups, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow flag in response to a need for a symbol that could be used year after year.

The original 'rainbow flag' was created by Gilbert Baker in to celebrate members of the gay and lesbian political movement. It comprised eight coloured stripes stacked on top of each other to evoke a rainbow, a symbol of hope. Baker assigned a specific meaning to each colour: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, indigo for serenity and violet for spirit. A year later the pink and turquoise stripes were dropped owing to a shortage of pink fabric at the time and legibility concerns, resulting in the six-colour rainbow flag most commonly used in the first decades of the 21st century.