Current:Home > StocksRainbow flag meaning: A brief history lesson on how the Pride flag came to be -TrueNorth Capital Hub
Rainbow flag meaning: A brief history lesson on how the Pride flag came to be
View
Date:2025-04-16 23:40:48
Since its creation in 1978, the pride flag has become a universal symbol for the LGBTQ+ community. It represents visibility and hope and reflects the diversity within the LGBTQ+ community.
While the flag is easily recognized, its history may not be as well-known to everyone. Did you know the current rainbow flag is an updated design of the original?
Here is a history lesson on how the pride rainbow flag came to be and the meaning behind its colors.
What do the colors of the Pride flag mean?
Each of the pride flag's six rainbow colors has a unique meaning:
- Red: Life
- Orange: Healing
- Yellow: Sunlight
- Green: Nature
- Blue: Serenity
- Purple: Spirit
When is Pride Month 2024?How the celebration of LGBTQ+ identities came to be.
The history of the Gilbert Baker pride flag
In the 1970s, Harvey Milk – the first openly gay elected official in California – tasked activist Gilbert Baker to design a symbol of hope for the gay community.
"Harvey Milk was a friend of mine, an important gay leader in San Francisco in the ’70s, and he carried a really important message about how important it was to be visible," Baker said in an interview with the Museum of Modern Art in 2015. "A flag really fit that mission, because that’s a way of proclaiming your visibility, or saying, 'This is who I am!'"
The original Pride flag had eight stripes, each symbolizing:
- Hot pink: Sex
- Red: Life
- Orange: Healing
- Yellow: Sunlight
- Green: Nature
- Turquoise: Magic
- Indigo: Serenity
- Purple: Spirit
Prior to the rainbow flag, the pink triangle was used as a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community, according to Baker. In Nazi Germany, people were forced to wear pink triangles. While the symbol was reclaimed, the community wanted a new symbol.
"We needed something beautiful, something from us," Baker said in the MoMA interview. "The rainbow is so perfect because it really fits our diversity in terms of race, gender, ages, all of those things."
The original Pride flag was flown for the first time at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978, the History Channel reports.
Pride 2024:Latest news and events honoring LGBTQ rights.
How did the Pride flag come to be?
The original flag was made by hand, but as they started to be mass-produced, the hot pink stripe was removed due to manufacturing difficulties, the New York Times reports.
Parade organizers also wanted the rainbow to have an even number of stripes so to split and line the street along parade routes. Baker then removed the turquoise stripe, replacing it for blue, the History Channel reports.
More Pride Flags explained
Progress Pride Flag | Lesbian Pride Flag | Transgender Pride Flag | Bisexual Pride Flag | Pansexual Pride Flag | Asexual Pride Flag | Intersex Pride Flag | Gender Identity Flags
Just Curious for more? We've got you covered
USA TODAY is exploring the questions you and others ask every day. From "What are the colors of the Intersex Pride flag?" to "When was gay marriage legalized in the U.S.?" to "What does deadnaming mean?" − we're striving to find answers to the most common questions you ask every day. Head to our Just Curious section to see what else we can answer.
veryGood! (3)
Related
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Kate Spade 24-Hour Flash Deal: Get This $400 Satchel Bag for Just $89
- Here's what could happen in markets if the U.S. defaults. Hint: It won't be pretty
- Travel Stress-Free This Summer With This Compact Luggage Scale Amazon Customers Can’t Live Without
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Lululemon’s Olympic Challenge to Reduce Its Emissions
- Can Africa Grow Without Fossil Fuels?
- Inside Clean Energy: Wind and Solar Costs Have Risen. How Long Should We Expect This Trend to Last?
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- Yes, Puerto Rican licenses are valid in the U.S., Hertz reminds its employees
Ranking
- Jorge Ramos reveals his final day with 'Noticiero Univision': 'It's been quite a ride'
- Khloe Kardashian Shares Rare Photo of Baby Boy Tatum in Full Summer Mode
- Weak GOP Performance in Midterms Blunts Possible Attacks on Biden Climate Agenda, Observers Say
- Household debt, Home Depot sales and Montana's TikTok ban
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Residents and Environmentalists Say a Planned Warehouse District Outside Baltimore Threatens Wetlands and the Chesapeake Bay
- At COP27, an 11th-Hour Deal Comes Together as the US Reverses Course on ‘Loss and Damage’
- Study Underscores That Exposure to Air Pollution Harms Brain Development in the Very Young
Recommendation
Nearly half of US teens are online ‘constantly,’ Pew report finds
The case for financial literacy education
Shakira Makes a Literal Fashion Statement With NO Trench Coat
Kendall Jenner and Ex Devin Booker Attend Same Star-Studded Fourth of July Party
Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
At COP27, the US Said It Will Lead Efforts to Halt Deforestation. But at Home, the Biden Administration Is Considering Massive Old Growth Logging Projects
Warming Trends: Bill Nye’s New Focus on Climate Change, Bottled Water as a Social Lens and the Coming End of Blacktop
A Pipeline Giant Pleads ‘No Contest’ to Environmental Crimes in Pennsylvania After Homeowners Complained of Tainted Water