Flags are, after all, meant to be flown - loudly and proudly! Below, we’ll walk you through the origin, meaning and colors of 21 LGBTQ flags, from the original pride flag to new pride flags flown today, so that you can understand which identity each flag celebrates. To support the elderly man the middle-aged dad. Although the symbolic use of bright colors has long been connected to queer culture, these flags, fittingly, are a highly visible, widerspread signal of queer identity compared to some of the slightly more covert LGBTQ+ symbols that preceded them. A father decorated his garden with Pride flags to show solidarity with his 73-year-old neighbor who had come out as gay. The pink stripe represents homosexual attractions, the blue stripe represents attractions to different genders, and the resultant overlap color, purple, represents attraction regardless of sex or gender. Today, there are dozens of LGBTQ+ flags representing just as many gender identities, sexualities and intersections of communities. First unveiled on 5 December 1998, the bisexual pride flag was designed by Michael Page to represent and increase visibility of bisexuals in the LGBT community. The bisexual flag is a pride flag representing bisexual individuals and the bisexual community. Much like the communities they represent, these flags are in a constant state of evolution, expanding to better and more inclusively encompass every queer identity under the rainbow.

Ever since the first rainbow-hued LGBTQ flag was created in 1978, pride flags have been a colorful symbol of queer identity.