The first ever pride flag was an eight-colour rainbow which included pink and two shades of blue. It was designed by Gilbert Baker for the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day, now known as San Francisco Pride. Simpler designs replaced it when it was difficult to buy fabrics in the original colours, and the six-colour version here had become the standard by the following year. The colours are said to stand for:
- Red: life
- Orange: healing
- Yellow: sunlight
- Green: nature
- Indigo: harmony / serenity
- Violet: spirit
The rainbow flag represents the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole, but is particularly associated with gay men because they have been the most visible part of the community especially in its earlier days.
Progress pride flag
A much more recent version of the flag has been designed to include trans people, people of colour and those who have died as a result of HIV / AIDS.
There’s a range of awareness and visibility days for our community and for sections within it…
- LGBT+ History Month: February
- Zero Discrimination Day: 1 March
- IDAHOBIT (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia) : 17 May
- Pride Month: June
- Stonewall Riots Anniversary: 28 June
- Drag Day: 16 July
- National Coming Out Day: 11 October
- World AIDS Day: 1 December