Supporting LGBTQ charities, activists, designers, business and companies who have shown committed, ongoing support for LGBTQ communities is a way to put your money where your mouth is – but donning an outfit that shows your support in a fun and fashionable way is also a lovely way to wear your heart on your sleeve.īuying rainbow flags from LGBTQ organisations is great, but also feel free to don rainbow earrings, headpieces and accessories so you can happily flaunt your LGBT pride from head to toe. Whether during Pride season or not, donning rainbow colours can serve a dual purpose infusing your outfit with some colour, joy and effervescence, and signalling your year-long support for the LGBTQ community, whose ongoing struggles for rights and acceptance don’t fade away with the parade paraphernalia. "We're an ancient, wonderful tribe of people. "We needed something to express our joy, our beauty, our power. Before he died, he expressed his gratitude that the rainbow flag had been embraced by the LGBTQ community. The rainbow flag became iconic, and is now an international symbol of love, support, solidarity and hope.īaker died in 2017, aged 65. The first flag was over sixty feet long, thirty feet wide, and Baker, then 27 years old, sewed it by hand.Īfter that iconic debut, Baker changed the design, removed pink and turquoise and settling with the current six-hue configuration, which was easier to mass produce. Baker assigned a meaning to each of the colours: hot pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for magic, blue for harmony and violet for spirit. Baker had been commissioned to design a symbol for the LGBTQ community by his friend Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California.īaker drew inspiration from the US national flag and rainbows, which display the colours of the light spectrum in roughly the same sequence as the flag. Designed by gay artist and activist Gilbert Baker, it originally had eight colours – two more than today’s modern version. But others, including Daniel Quasar, said that the Progress Pride flag wasn't intended to replace the original, and argued that it was important to represent marginalised communities.The first rainbow flew in San Francisco's United Nations Plaza for Gay Pride Day, on June 25, 1978. Some people within LGBTQ+ communities said that Gilbert Baker's Pride flag didn't need to be changed, arguing that it was originally designed to be representative of everyone. "The arrow points to the right to show forward movement, while being along the left edge shows that progress still needs to be made." explained Daniel Quasar. It included black, brown, pink, pale blue and white stripes, to represent marginalised people of colour in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the trans community, and those living with HIV/AIDS. One year later, an artist called Daniel Quasar released a redesign of the Pride flag, called the Progress Pride flag, which was widely shared on social media. In 2017, Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs added black and brown stripes to the Pride flag to recognise people of colour. Over the years the original rainbow flag has been redesigned, with some within LGBTQ+ movements arguing it needed to better represent and reflect more communities.