Explained: What do different Pride flags represent?
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In the build up to Highland Pride, and even throughout Pride month in June, you may have seen rainbow flags in windows.
They are common symbols of the LGBTQ+ community – but did you know there are many other flags that represent different parts of the community?
If you have walked past a flag in recent weeks and wondered what it meant, it's entirely possible it was a Pride flag and you didn't even realise it.
With Highland Pride just a couple of weeks away, then, here are just some of the flags you could come across – and what they symbolise, and who they represent.
The Rainbow Flag
When people think about Pride flags, chances are this is the one that immediately comes to mind.
The classic rainbow flag has been used for longer than any of the other flags in this article – but even that didn't always look like it does now.
The original version, designed in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, featured eight stripes instead of the six you'll see today.
Then, 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 spirit.
The pink stripe was quickly removed due to a lack of available fabric, and then a year later the turquoise and indigo stripes were merged into a single royal blue stripe to create the six-stripe rainbow flag that is used today.
The Progress Pride Flag
Different adaptions of the rainbow flag exists, but the progress pride flag has possibly become the most popular.
As well as the six-stripe rainbow, this incorporates chevrons along the hoist that features black, brown, light blue, pink, and white stripes to bring marginalized people of colour, trans people, those living with HIV/AIDS and those who have been lost to the forefront.
It is said that the arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made.
Again, different variations exist, with some, more recent, versions including an extra yellow chevron containing a purple circle to represent intersex people.
The Lesbian Flags
Aside from the adaptions to the classic rainbow flag, not many other identities within the LGBTQ+ community have had as many different symbols as lesbians.
As a result, there is no single version that comes close to being universally popular.
Violet has become associated with lesbians through the poetry of Ancient Greek writer Sappho, and as such the flags tend to feature similar colours.
In 2018, orange was added, with the new version including dark orange for "gender non-conformity", orange for "independence", light orange for "community", white for "unique relationships to womanhood", pink for "serenity and peace", dusty pink for "love and sex", and dark rose for "femininity".
As has often been the case historically, the seven-stripe version was then condensed into a five-stripe version which broadly followed the same colour scheme.
The Bisexual Flag
Activist Michael Page introduced the bisexual flag in 1998, using pink, purple and blue.
In his words: "The pink colour represents sexual attraction to the same sex only (gay and lesbian), the blue represents sexual attraction to the opposite sex only (straight), and the resultant overlap colour purple represents sexual attraction to both sexes (bi)."
He also chose to have the colours seamlessly blend into one another to represent how bisexual people can potentially blend into both the LGBTQ+ community and the straight community.
The Pansexual Flag
Unlike most of the other flags listed here, the pansexual flag was created on social media, being introduced in 2010.
Horizontal pink, yellow and blue striped represent the traditional colours for girls and boys either side of the middle yellow stripe representing other gender identities, such as non-binary.
The Trans Flag
As well as the rainbow and progress pride flags, this one could be seen in several places throughout Pride month.
Designed by trans woman Monica Helms in 1999, the flag consists of five horizontal stripes: two light blue, two pink, with a white stripe in the center.
The light blue was picked as the traditional colour for baby boys, while the pink fills the same role for baby girls. The white represents non-binary people, or more generally those who feel they do not have a gender.
It is a palindromic flag by design, with it being correct whichever way it is flown to signify finding "correctness" in life.
The Non-binary Flag
While those identities come under the trans umbrella, there is a specific flag for people who identify as non-binary.
Created in 2014 by activist Kyle Rowan, each stripe represents different types of non-binary identities.
Yellow is for people who identify outside of the gender binary, white for people with multiple genders, purple for those with a mixture of both male and female genders, and black for agender individuals.
The Intersex Flag
One of the most commonly overlooked identities falling under the LGBTQ+ umbrella is intersex.
Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia created this one in July 2013, aiming to come up with an idea that was not derivative of anything else.
Yellow and purple were chosen as colours as they were seen as free from gender associations and were historically used to represent intersex people.
The circle is described as "unbroken and unornamented, symbolizing wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities".
The Asexual Flag
Unusually among all of these flags, the asexual flag came about as the result of a public poll.
The finalised design in 2010 features four horizontal stripes of black, gray, white, and purple from top to bottom.
They represent asexuality, gray-asexuality, allosexuality and community respectively.
The Aromantic Flag
Cameron Whimsy is credited with creating the aromantic flag in 2014.
The colour green as the primary colour was chosen as it is the opposite of red, which is most commonly associated with romantic love (like in the hearts or flowers you will see packing out shops around Valentine's Day).
The greens represent the aromantic spectrum, white represents platonic love and friendship, and grey and black represents the different parts of the sexuality spectrum.
The Straight Ally Flag
Yes, straight people do get a flag too. If you are not part of the LGBTQ+ community personally, but show unity and support for LGBTQ+ people, this one is for you.
First used in the 2000s, the original creator of the ally flag is unclear, but it combines the straight flag, made up of black and white stripes, and the classic rainbow flag.
The "A" naturally stands for ally, black and white stripes represent the straight flag and the rainbow colours are for the LGBTQ+ community.
