Gay pride rainbow color order

The rainbow flag was created as a symbol of LGBTQIA+ pride and persona, and has since been used by millions of people around the planet to signal security, allyship and inclusion.

More recently, variations of the rainbow flag have become famous, it can be difficult to understand when to utilize each one, or even which is the “correct” one to use. Our advice is to use the flag that most aligns with your utterance or values. If you are part of a team or organisation, formulate this decision together as a team or with your community.

To help you work through this process, here’s a run down of the most trendy flags and what they mean today.

Original Rainbow Pride Flag

You’ll recognise this flag as the “original” rainbow pride flag. This rainbow flag serves to signal pride - or allyship - to represent the entire LGBTQIA+ community.  

History of the Flag

The imaginative rainbow pride flag was designed in by Gilbert Baker, an openly queer artist and activist. The flag originally featured eight stripes, each of which represented something other . From top to bottom, the stripes represented

Flags of the LGBTIQ Community

Flags have always been an integral part of the LGBTIQ+ movement. They are a noticeable representation meant to honor progress, advocate for visibility, and amplify the require and drive for collective action. There have been many LGBTIQ+ flags over the years. Some possess evolved, while others are constantly being conceptualized and created.

Rainbow Flag

Created in by Gilbert Baker, the iconic Pride Rainbow flag originally had eight stripes. The colors included pink to represent sexuality, red for healing, yellow for daystar, green for serenity with nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. In the years since, the flag now has six colors. It no longer has a pink stripe, and the turquoise and indigo stripes were replaced with royal blue.

Progress Celebration Flag

Created in by nonbinary artist Daniel Quasar, the Progress Pride flag is based on the iconic rainbow flag. With stripes of black and brown to represent marginalized LGBTIQ+ people of hue and the triad of blue, pink, and ivory from the trans flag, the desig

Gay Pride/Rainbow Flag - Variations with order and number of stripes (1)


Sexual Orientation Flags




On this page:See also:

Five-striped variations


image by Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 26 June

At least one of the flags seen in Mumbai, India, on 16 August did replace red and orange stripes with a single orange-red stripe, while keeping the rare order of other colors, as shown here. The reason for this is unclear, since the usual six-striped rainbow flag is not unknown in India, as some of the above sources reveal.
Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 26 June


image by Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 25 August

Another variant with five stripes omits the violet stripe, while the order of others remains unchanged, with azure (lighter than usual) at the top and red at the bottom. This flag was used at the 6th Kerala Lgbtq+ Pride, which took place at Thiruvananthapuram on 11 July The photo of this flag can be found here. Another photo, which gives only an incomplete view, can be found here.
Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 25 August


image by Tomislav Todorovi&#;, 23 August

A version wit

The Progress Pride flag was developed in by non-binary American designer and designer Daniel Quasar (who uses xe/xyr pronouns). Based on the iconic rainbow flag from , the redesign celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ society and calls for a more inclusive society. In , the V&A acquired a bespoke applique version of the Progress Self-acceptance flag that can be seen on display in the Blueprint – Now gallery.

'Progress' is a reinterpretation of multiple iterations of the pride flag. The authentic 'rainbow flag' was created by Gilbert Baker in to honor members of the gay and lesbian political movement. It comprised eight coloured stripes stacked on top of each other to evoke a rainbow, a symbol of hope. Baker assigned a specific meaning to each colour: pink for sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for world, turquoise for magic, indigo for serenity and violet for liveliness. A year later the pink and turquoise stripes were dropped owing to a shortage of pink fabric at the moment and legibility concerns, resulting in the six-colour rainbow flag most commo