The Rainbow Flag: How LGBTQ Pride Flag Originated And Evolved Over Time

The origins of Pride Month can be traced back as far as the Stonewall Inn raid on June 28, 1969. These kinds of incidents became the catalyst for LGBTQ rights movements which aimed to encourage acceptance and spread awareness regarding the LGBTQ community. One of the earliest of such celebrations was the Gay Pride week which was held in June 1970, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

The Pride Month was first recognised by the federal government in 1999, when President Bill Clinton declared June as ‘Gay & Lesbian Pride Month’. In 2009, President Barack Obama declared June as ‘LGBT Pride Month’. And most recently on June 1, 2021, President Joe Biden declared June as ‘LGBTQ Pride Month’. The very changes in reference to Pride Month, represents the history and growth of the LGBTQ community throughout the world. This worldwide celebration also covers India, where the movement and celebration of LGBTQ rights faced its own challenges. Prior to the Pride Month, the first Pride Parade in India, Kolkata Rainbow Pride Walk was held in 1999. This parade was attended by only 15 people with some travelling from as far as Mumbai and Bangalore.

Pride Month Theme for 2025

This year’s theme is ‘Activism and Social Change’, however some organisations are also highlighting ‘The Fabric of Freedom’ and ‘Queer Joy is Resistance’ as central themes. In recent years, it can be seen that LGBTQ rights have obtained increased visibility, legal protection, acceptance and growing awareness regarding diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. A few decades ago, the LGBTQ community openly faced discrimination without having any support in protecting their orientation and lifestyles. This is very different from the present, where LGBTQ relationships and genders are recognised by the legal system. The general population is also becoming increasingly aware about the different types of gender identities and sexual orientations through social media, advertisement, art, movies, tv shows, educational institutes, among others. For the 2025 pride month, a theme like “The Fabric of Freedom” represents unity, resilience and liberation. It emphasizes that freedom is not a singular gift, but a collective achievement woven together by individual experiences and shared struggles. Pride month also highlights the idea that LGBTQ community’s strength lies in diversity and unity, where each individual’s contribution can lead to a more inclusive community. This is a global call to action that urges people towards full LGBTQ rights and acceptance.

Origins of the Rainbow Flag

The origins of the rainbow flag symbolising LGBTQ rights movement go back as far as 1978, when a San Francisco Activist named Gilbert Baker, an openly gay man and drag queen, designed the eight coloured rainbow flag by collaborating with his friend Lynn Segerblom. Baked viewed flags to be the most powerful symbol and considered the rainbow as a natural flag from the sky. He adopted the eight colours for its stripes with each colour having its own meaning. Hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art and magic, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.

It was later revealed by Baker that sometime in the 1970s, he was urged to create a symbol of pride for the gay community by his friend Harvey Milk, who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the US. In an interview, Baker also expressed his views and said “Our job as gay people was to come out, to be visible, to live in the truth, as I say, to get out of the lie. A flag really fit that mission, because that’s a way of proclaiming your visibility or saying, ‘This is who I am!’”

The earliest version of this flag was flown on June 25, 1978, for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade. Over the years the flag went through some revisions and the original flag’s hot pink and turquoise stripes were removed either because of difficulty manufacturing or dying the fabric. This resulted in the six-colour rainbow flag to officially establish itself as the symbol of LGBTQ pride in 1994. In the very same year, Baker made a mile-long version of the official flag for the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

LGBTQ Pride Flags Over The Years

- In 1978, Gilbert Baker and Lynn Segerblom created the first eight-colour flag that symbolized LGBTQ pride. After the assassination of Harvey Milk in 1978, this flag was used by many organizations and people as the pride flag. This flag was used to commemorate the accomplishments of Harvey Milk and his efforts towards equality and diversity. The earliest version of this flag was flown on June 25, 1978, for the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day parade.

(Source: colorado.edu)

- In 1979, the community revised the flag to six colours by removing hot pink and turquoise stripes either because of the difficulty in manufacturing and/or dying the fabric. It is now recognised as the traditional flag for LGBTQ pride.

- In 2017, the city of Philadelphia adopted two more stripes of black and brown on the Pride flag. This design aimed to recognise people of colour that were often not fully included in the LGBTQ community and often faced discrimination from within. Black and brown stripes were also added to represent the struggle and prejudices that queer people of colour face regularly.

(Source: colorado.edu)

- In June 2018, designer and activist Daniel Quasar released an updated version of the Pride flag which combined the new elements of the Philadelphia design and the Transgender flag to bring further emphasis on inclusion and progress. This new flag added a chevron to the hoist of the traditional 6-colour flag which represents marginalised LGBTQ+ communities of colour, those living with HIV/AIDS and those who’ve been lost, and trans and non-binary persons. This flag is called the Pride Progress flag.

- In 2021, a new flag called Intersex-Inclusive Pride flag was created by Valentino Vecchietti of Intersex Equality Rights UK, who adapted the Pride Progress flag design to incorporate the intersex flag. This flag used the intersex community’s purple and yellow colours as an intentional counterpoint to blue and pink, which have traditionally been seen as binary gendered colours. The symbol of the circle represents the concept of being unbroken and being whole, which symbolises the right of Intersex people to make decisions about their own bodies.

LGBTQ Relationships in Nature

Many claim LGBTQ relationships to be unnatural or abominations, however science has shed light to such relationships found in nature. The scientific community uses the term “Queer Ecology” to refer to same sex relationships found in nature, this discipline is a cumulation of queer theory, environmental studies and social sciences. It critiques the very idea that heterosexuality is the only natural or acceptable form of sexuality or relationship in both human and non-human contexts. Queer ecology encourages people to question and rethink their understanding of relationships between living beings, their environments, and their behaviours.