As we approach Pride month, let’s review the history of the rainbow pride flag we all know and love.
The first and original Rainbow Pride Flag was created by artist and activist Gilbert Baker in 1978. Baker designed it as a vibrant symbol of hope and pride at the request of Harvey Milk.
The original Rainbow Flag featured eight stripes, each representing a different aspect of the LGBTQ+ community. You can see those here.
The following year, in 1979, Baker updated the flag by removing the pink and turquoise stripes, apparently because it reduced printing and material costs.
This 6 stripe version gained more and more traction in queer circles, eventually becoming the default symbol of the LGBTQ+ community by the early 1990s, dethroning the lambda symbol.
The 6-stripe version went pretty much unchanged for 38 years, until the Philadelphia Pride Flag was unveiled at the city’s pride event in 2017. The Philadelphia City Council commissioned the creation of this flag as they wanted to incorporate queer communities of color that have often been overlooked in the mainstream LGBTQ+ movement. The addition of the black and brown stripes symbolize communities of color and their contribution to the movement.
The Progress Pride Flag evolved from the Philadelphia Pride Flag and was created by Daniel Quaser in 2018. Quasar added a white, pink, and light blue stripe to represent the Trans community. While the black and brown stripes still represented communities of color, the black stripe is also a nod the thousands of individuals that the community lost during the HIV/AIDS crisis in 1980s and 1990s. Since its creation, this flag has become very popular.
The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag adds the intersex community to the Progress Pride Flag. With this update coming in 2021, this serves as the most up-to-date LGBTQ+ flag to build off of Gilbert Baker’s original Rainbow design. The flag was created by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK.
Sources:
“Embracing the Full Spectrum: The Evolution of the Pride Flag.” Chicago Pride. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://pridechicago.org/embracing-the-full-spectrum-the-evolution-of-the-pride-flag/.
“Hidden History of the Pride Flag.” San Diego Pride. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://sdpride.org/hidden-history-of-the-pride-flag/.
“How Did the Rainbow Flag Become an LGBTQ Symbol?” History.com. Last modified June 7, 2023. https://www.history.com/articles/how-did-the-rainbow-flag-become-an-lgbt-symbol.
“LGBTQ+ Pride Flags.” Human Rights Campaign. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://www.hrc.org/resources/lgbtq-pride-flags.
“The Rainbow Flag.” GLBT Historical Society. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://www.glbthistory.org/rainbow-flag.
“The Symbol of Pride.” Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Accessed May 28, 2026. https://humanrights.ca/story/symbol-pride.
Queer Legacy 
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