A Guide to Pride Flags

During Pride month the iconic rainbow Pride flag is everywhere, brightening up streets and social media as a symbol of strength and celebration for LGBT+ people around the world.

In recent years, as the diversity of the LGBT+ community has become more recognised, more and more Pride flags have emerged to symbolise unity and visibility for people of different sexual and gender identities. Some of them are becoming almost as widely known as the rainbow flag, but you might be wondering about the meaning or history behind a few of the flags you’ve seen at Pride marches or online.

Read on for our guide to the popular Pride flags and what they represent. As well as these, there are many more out there as the breadth of representation continues to evolve.

To browse our full range of colourful Pride and rainbow themed watches, take a look at our Pride collection. Or browse only our LGBT+ flags collection here.

As part of our partnership with LGBT+ advice, listening and support charity Switchboard, 5% of every sale on Pride watches goes directly to keeping the charity’s vital services running. To find out more about Switchboard and what they do, read more about our partnership here.

Can't find what you're looking for or want a different identity flag? You can send us your request. Please contact us here and we'll be happy to help.

Rainbow Pride Flags

Classic Rainbow Pride Flag

The most common Pride flag you’ll see today is the vibrant six colour rainbow Pride flag. Invented in 1978 by artist and gay rights activist Gilbert Baker, the flag was commissioned by Harvey Milk who was the first openly gay elected official in California. 

Each colour has a different meaning, with the flag as a whole representing the many different overlapping groups within the LGBTQ+ community, highlighting both differences and unity. 

However, there have since been introduced many variations on the rainbow Pride flag.

Original Rainbow Pride Flag

The original rainbow Pride flag featured eight different colours. In this extra-colourful 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 spirit.

 The original rainbow Pride flag featured eight different colours. In this extra-colourful 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 spirit.

However, because of issues around the production of fabric colours, and the need for an even number of stripes, the turquoise and pink were dropped, leaving us with the Pride flag we most commonly see today.

Check out our Rainbow Flags Collection to wear your pride how you want! Or check out our Pride Rainbow Collection to find horizontal or vertical rainbow stripes, hearts, and more.

Inclusive Rainbow Pride Flags

Since the Pride flag was first introduced, it has been altered to include under-represented people in the LGBT+ community, particularly people of colour and from different ethnic backgrounds or transgender people. 

The ‘more colour more Pride’ flag expands the colours of the rainbow flag to include black and brown, to represent LGBTQ+ people of colour. Similarly, the Progress Pride flag was introduced in Philadelphia in 2017 to include under-represented people in the LGBTQ+ community, particularly people of colour and from different ethnic backgrounds, with the addition of blue, pink and white to represent transgender people.

 

Multisexual Pride Flags

Multisexuality is an umbrella term for people who experience sexual attraction to more than one gender. This includes bisexual, pansexual and omnisexual.

Bisexual Flag

As the B in LGBTQ+, the bisexual pride flag is a widely used symbol for anyone who falls under the umbrella of bisexuality. While this can mean different things, bisexuality is generally accepted as being attracted to both men and women, or more than one gender. The pink represents same-sex attraction, the blue represents opposite-sex attraction and the lavender represents attraction to both or more than one sex. 

The flag was designed in 1998 with the aim of increasing the visibility of bisexual people both in society as a whole and within the LGBT+ community as distinct from lesbian and gay people, by giving them their own symbol.

 

Shop bisexual pride flag watches here, including some lovely minimalist designs!

Pansexual Flag

The pansexual Pride flag emerged as a way for pansexual people to distinguish themselves from bisexuality. 

While very similar to bisexuality in representing people who identify as neither fully straight or gay, the term pansexual comes from the Greek root ‘pan’ meaning ‘all’, and was created to emphasise attraction not exclusively to men and women. 

The colours pink and blue represent attraction to women and men, with the addition of yellow representing attraction to other genders and people who fall outside of the gender binary. 

To wear your pride on your wrist, shop the pansexual pride flag watch here.

Polysexual Flag

Polysexual people experience sexual attraction to more than two, but not all, sexes, genders, and gender expressions. For example, women, androgynes and demigirls. The polysexual Pride flag is pink, green and blue.

Find the polysexual pride flag watches here.

Omnisexual Flag

The omnisexual Pride flag was created to include people who are attracted to all sexes, genders and gender identities.

Lesbian Pride Flags

There’s no one official lesbian flag but there are many flags that represent the lesbian community - here are just a few of them. You can find all of the lesbian flag watches here, or read more to find a more specific one.

Classic Lesbian Pride Flag 

The original lesbian Pride flag is a slightly lesser-known symbol that was introduced via a blog in 2010, featuring pink, purple, lavender and sometimes orange. 

Lipstick Lesbian Pride Flag

The different shades of red and pink are said to represent different shades of lipstick. The original lesbian Pride flag had a red kiss mark in the corner, and you can sometimes still see this version. Many people refer to this version as the lipstick lesbian flag pride as a symbol for feminine lesbians.

Sunset Lesbian Pride Flag

A newer version of the lesbian Pride flag includes an orange stripe for gender non-conformity.

Lesbian Labrys Flag

The labrys pride flag is another recognisable lesbian symbol adopted by lesbian as far back as 1999, which includes a double-headed axe called a labrys - a weapon used by the Amazons of Greek mythology.

 

Transgender Pride Flag

The now accepted transgender Pride flag was designed by transgender woman and activist Monica Helms in 1999, and was first shown at a Pride parade in Arizona in 2000. 

The five horizontal stripes represent the transgender community, transgender rights and visibility, with baby pink and baby blue being the traditional colours for baby boys and baby girls, and white representing people who are non-binary, transitioning or fall outside of gender norms. The flag is designed in such a way that no matter which way up you fly it, it’s always correct, signifying transgender people finding correctness in their lives.

Find our transgender pride flag watches here, including some fun minimalist designs.

Asexual Spectrum Pride Flags

Asexual Pride Flag

The asexual pride flag was created on the internet in 2010 as part of a community effort to promote visibility for people who identify as asexual. This also includes people who fall into the asexuality spectrum, including demisexual and greysexual.

Aromantic Pride Flag

Among the many other flags to represent people on the asexual spectrum, there is also a aromantic pride flag. People who identify as aromantic generally don’t experience or desire romantic attraction, preferring platonic relationships.

Browse our asexual pride flag watches here. There's also a "Space Ace" watch at the link, so click for a fun design!

Demisexual & Greysexual Pride Flag

Asexuality refers to people who don’t experience sexual attraction, whereas demisexual and greysexual people experience only very limited, occasional or mild sexual attraction, depending on the circumstances. There are also flags under the asexual umbrella - a demisexual Pride flag and a greysexual Pride flag.

 

Genderqueer & Non-Binary Pride Flags

Genderqueer Flag

The term genderqueer can encompass many meanings but in general, genderqueer means people who don’t conform to society’s ideals about the gender they are assigned at birth. 

This includes people who identify as both male and female, people who feel that their gender changes, people who feel partially one gender and partially another, people who are agender or do not identify with a gender at all, and people who play with gender expression or have undefined gender labels.

The introduction of the genderqueer Pride flag came about in 2011 from designer Marilyn Roxie, a genderqueer writer and advocate, and features a lavender, white, and yellow-green stripe. Lavender represents androgynes and androgyny or a mix between male and female, white represents agender or neutral gender identity and yellow green represents other genders completely outside of the male and female binary. 

 

Non-Binary Pride Flag 

Under the umbrella of genderqueer, there are so many diverse gender identities and ways of expressing gender (or lack of gender) that it would be difficult to list them all! 

Genderfluid Pride Flag

Definitions aren’t always agreed upon or set in stone, as ideas about gender in society are constantly changing and professing. The genderfluid pride flag represents people who identify with having gender that is flexible or not fixed.

Genderflux Pride Flag

People whose feelings about gender can vary in intensity over time, between having or not having a gender are generally comfortable with the label "genderflux".

 

Agender Pride Flag

Agender people are those who typically identify as being without gender or are gender neutral. 

Neutrois Pride Flag

Sometimes used in the same sense as agender, but there isn’t always agreement. Some people use neutrois to mean a third gender outside of the binary. Does this sound like you? 

Androgynous Pride Flag

People who identify as androgynes are described as being simultaneously male and female, or in between male and female (though not necessarily in equal amounts).

Demigender Pride Flag

People who feel as though they are partly one gender, partly another or partly neither are usually comfortable with the label of demigender. 

Demiboy Pride Flag

Someone who only partially (not wholly) identifies as a man, boy or male, whatever their assigned gender at birth can identify as a demiboy. 

Demigirl Pride Flag

Someone who only partially (not wholly) identifies as a girl, woman or female, whatever their assigned gender at birth can identify as a demigirl if they wish so.

 

If we've missed any or you'd like to buy any of these designs on a watch, please do not hesitate to contact us.