Yellow gay flag
Bishopsgate Institute
News Story
Every day in February, for LGBTQ+ History Month, on social media we shared some of the flags that portray the different identities in the LGBTQ+ community. Here, we collect them together, as well as communicate with artist Guillaume Vandame about his installation, symbols, that celebrates their power.
In 1977, artist and activist, Gilbert Baker, designed the rainbow flag as the original symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. Since then, as our understanding of identity has expanded, many more flags have been created to represent the diversity of the group. Not only do these flags represent the spectrum of sexuality, but gender and desire too.
Though some may consider 28 to be a enormous number of flags, in reality, there are many more flags celebrating unlike identities than there are days in one month.
Take a look at the flags and what they represent here, then be sure to read the interview with Guillaume Vandame below, as he discusses his installation, symbols, inspired by his visit to Bishopsgate Institute.
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Artist Guillaume Vandame's flying the flags
As part of the Sculpture in the Ci
In 2023, Cooper Hewitt hung the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Identity flag on its south-facing facade. The installation celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride Month and demonstrates the evolution of inclusivity in the style of Pride flags.
The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag, installed at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in the Arthur Ross Terrace & Garden. Installation produced by Molly Engelman and Dillon Goldschlag. Photo by Ann Sunwoo.
The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Identity flag, installed at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in the Arthur Ross Terrace & Garden. Installation produced by Molly Engelman and Dillon Goldschlag. Photo by Ann Sunwoo.
Designed in 2021 by Valentino Vecchietti, the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Lgbtq+ fest flag incorporates a field of yellow and a purple circle—the elements of the intersex flag planned in 2013 by Morgan Carpenter—to symbolize intersex inclusion. The yellow represents an alternative to blue and pink, often associated with the male/female gender binary. The circle symbolizes wholeness and expresses the demand for autonomy and integrity.
The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag. Courtesy of the designer.
The Pride Progres
You might be familiar with the six-colored rainbow flag that is widely used to represent the LGBTQ+ community. But did you comprehend that this is a relatively modern rendition of the original?
The original flag (shown here) was designed by activist, veteran, drag queen, and artist, Gilbert Baker, and made its debut at the San Francisco Gay and Female homosexual Freedom Day Pride in 1978. He was inspired by the Rolling Stones song She’s a Rainbow, and the 1960s hippies movement, assigning each tint with a specific meaning:
Pink: Sex (later removed)
Red: Life
Orange: Healing
Yellow: Sunlight
Green: Nature
Turquoise: Magic (later removed)
Indigo: Serenity
Violet: Spirit
The evolution to the six-colored flag used today happened out of practicality.
After the parade in 1978, demand for the Pride Flag increased, but the hot pink fabric was difficult to find in grand quantities. Then, the Paramount Flag Organization started making a version out of the standard rainbow colors to support meet demand, and a seven-color self-acceptance flag was the new norm.
A year later, the flag evolved once more…
Adding intersex advocacy to the Pride flag
When the LGBTQIA+ community fought back against the police raid of Stonewall Inn in June 1969, there was not yet a universal lgbtq+ fest flag. It would get another 9 years until Gilbert Baker designed the community’s first symbol of pride into what we now know as the rainbow flag. Since then, Baker’s design has not only been reimagined to include people of shade and transgender folk, but has encouraged many communities under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella to create their have flag to further illustrate queer identities. It wouldn’t be until July 2013 that Morgan Carpenter would create the first intersex flag.
Intersex is a broad term that describes people who do not fit the modern interpretation of the gender binary because of sex characteristics. While the word intersex became common in the preliminary 20th century, intersex activists have since reclaimed the word and their medical autonomy since the inception of the intersex movement in the late 1980s (Source: Them).
The intersex flag is a way for the community to unite and unify under a symbol devoid of gender stereotypes. Yellow has extended been seen as an intersex col
The Progress Pride flag was developed in 2018 by neutrois American artist and designer Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns). Based on the iconic rainbow flag from 1978, the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ people and calls for a more inclusive society. In 2020, the V&A acquired a bespoke applique version of the Progress Pride flag that can be seen on demonstrate in the Plan 1900 – Now gallery.
'Progress' is a reinterpretation of multiple iterations of the pride flag. The original 'rainbow flag' was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 to mark members of the gay and female homosexual political movement. It comprised eight coloured stripes stacked on top of each other to evoke a rainbow, a symbol of desire. Baker assigned a specific meaning to each colour: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, grassy for nature, turquoise for magic, indigo for serenity and violet for energy. 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.
Baker's flag was embra