You’ve seen them everywhere. Walking down a city street in June, or maybe just scrolling through your social media feed, these vibrant stripes of color are basically unavoidable. But here’s the thing: most people can identify the classic rainbow, yet they get tripped up the second a pink, purple, and blue one pops up. Or the black, gray, and white one. It’s a lot to keep track of, honestly.
Pride flags for different sexualities aren't just colorful decor for your bedroom wall or a clever marketing gimmick for corporations trying to look "progressive" for thirty days. They are actually a deeply complex visual language. For many, these banners are the first time they’ve ever felt "seen." Imagine growing up thinking you’re broken because you don't feel attraction the way your friends do, and then you see a flag that says, "Actually, there's a name for that, and here are thousands of other people who feel the same way."
That’s powerful stuff.
Why the Rainbow Isn't the Only Game in Town
Gilbert Baker created the original rainbow flag back in 1978. It was a moment. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, had basically challenged Baker to create a symbol of pride for the community. Originally, it had eight colors, including hot pink for sex and turquoise for magic/art. It was beautiful, but it was also a nightmare to mass-produce because hot pink fabric was apparently hard to come by in the 70s.
Eventually, we landed on the six-color version we see today. But as the community grew and became more vocal about the specific nuances of identity, people started feeling like the rainbow was a bit too broad. It’s like saying "food" when you really mean "sourdough bread." Both are true, but one is way more specific to your actual experience.
That’s why we started seeing a massive explosion of flags for different sexualities in the late 90s and early 2000s. People wanted a way to signal their specific tribe within the larger queer umbrella.
The Bisexual Flag: Michael Page’s 1998 Revolution
Michael Page noticed something kind of frustrating in the 90s. While the rainbow flag was everywhere, bisexual people often felt invisible within both straight and gay circles. They were either "going through a phase" or "not gay enough." Page decided that needed to change.
In 1998, he debuted the Bisexual Pride Flag. It’s got that deep pink at the top, a royal blue at the bottom, and a purple stripe—which he called the "lavender" stripe—overlapping in the middle.
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The symbolism is pretty literal. Pink represents attraction to the same gender. Blue represents attraction to a different gender. That purple middle? That’s the "overlap," representing attraction to two or more genders. It’s a simple design, but it gave millions of people a visual shorthand to say, "I’m here, and I’m not confused."
The Rise of the Pansexual and Polysexual Banners
Language evolves. Fast. Around 2010, the term "pansexual" started gaining massive traction online, specifically in spaces like Tumblr and LiveJournal. People were looking for a way to describe attraction that wasn't limited by the gender binary at all.
Enter the Pansexual Pride Flag.
It’s bright. Almost neon. You’ve got cyan, yellow, and magenta. Evonne Smith is often credited with the design. The cyan represents attraction to those who identify as male, magenta for those who identify as female, and that yellow stripe in the middle is for everyone else—non-binary, agender, genderfluid folks. It’s a bold statement that gender isn't the defining factor in who they love.
Then you have the polysexual flag. People often confuse pan and poly, but they’re different. Polysexuality is attraction to many genders, but not necessarily all. Its flag uses pink, green, and blue. The green is the standout here, specifically representing attraction to people who identify outside the traditional gender binary.
Asexuality and the Power of the "Ace" Palette
If you haven't spent much time in queer spaces, the Asexual (or "Ace") flag might look a bit somber to you. It’s black, gray, white, and purple. No bright neons here. But for the asexual community, this flag was a massive turning point.
The Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) held a contest in 2010 to create a symbol. The community voted, and this design won.
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- Black: Represents asexuality as a whole.
- Gray: Represents "Gray-asexuality" and demisexuality (people who fall in the "gray area" between sexual and asexual).
- White: Represents non-asexual partners and allies.
- Purple: Represents community.
It’s a sophisticated palette. It’s also one of the most recognizable flags for different sexualities because it stands out so starkly against the rainbow. It says that not feeling sexual attraction is just as valid as feeling it.
The Drama of the Lesbian Flag
Honestly, the history of the lesbian flag is a bit of a mess. For a long time, there wasn't one "official" version. In the late 90s, the "Labrys" flag was popular—purple with a double-headed axe—but it eventually fell out of favor because some found the imagery a bit too aggressive or tied to specific radical movements.
Then came the "Lipstick Lesbian" flag with the pink stripes and a red kiss mark. People hated it. It felt exclusionary to butch lesbians and anyone who didn't fit a hyper-feminine aesthetic.
Eventually, a blogger named Emily Gwen designed the "Orange-Pink" version in 2018. You’ve probably seen this one the most. It has seven stripes (sometimes condensed to five) ranging from dark orange to dark rose. The orange represents "gender non-conformity" and "independence," which finally gave butch and masc lesbians a place in the design. It was a move toward inclusivity that the community desperately needed.
What About the "New" Rainbow?
You’ve likely seen the version of the rainbow flag that has a chevron on the left side with brown, black, light blue, pink, and white stripes. This is the Progress Pride Flag, designed by Daniel Quasar in 2018.
Quasar didn't want to replace the original rainbow. Instead, the goal was to shift the focus. The black and brown stripes represent marginalized LGBTQ+ people of color, as well as those living with or lost to HIV/AIDS. The light blue, pink, and white stripes are the colors of the Transgender Pride Flag. By putting them in a chevron—an arrow shape—pointing to the right, it signals that while we’ve made progress, we’re still moving forward. It’s a "living" document of our history.
The Controversy of "Flag Fatigue"
Is there such a thing as too many flags? Some people think so. You'll hear arguments that having 50 different flags for different sexualities fractures the community. They say we should just stick to the rainbow.
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But that’s a bit of a reductive take.
Specificity matters. When someone identifies as "Abrosexual" (meaning their sexuality is fluid and changes over time) and they find a flag with green and pink gradients that represents them, it validates an experience that is often dismissed as "just being indecisive." These flags aren't just fabric; they’re tools for self-discovery.
How to Use These Symbols Respectfully
If you're an ally or just someone trying to learn, you don't need to memorize every single stripe. That's a tall order. But showing respect for the diversity of these symbols goes a long way.
First, don't assume the rainbow covers everyone's specific needs. If you're running an organization or a community group, using the Progress Pride Flag is usually the safest bet because it explicitly acknowledges the most marginalized groups within the community.
Second, if you see a flag you don't recognize, just ask or look it up. Most people are happy to explain what their flag means if you're coming from a place of genuine curiosity.
Practical Steps for Navigating Pride Symbols:
- Audit your visuals: If you’re a business owner, look at the "Pride" graphics you use. Are they just the 1978 rainbow? Consider switching to the Progress Pride Flag to show a deeper understanding of current intersections.
- Use the right terminology: Flags and labels often go hand-in-hand. If someone is flying a Bisexual flag, don't refer to them as "gay" as a catch-all. Use the term they’ve signaled.
- Support the creators: Many of these flags were designed by independent artists. If you’re buying a flag, try to buy from queer-owned businesses rather than massive corporations that just slap a rainbow on a t-shirt for June.
- Listen to the shifts: The lesbian flag changed because the community spoke up about feeling left out. Be open to the fact that these designs might evolve again in five or ten years.
Symbols are only as good as the meaning we give them. These flags for different sexualities represent a massive shift in how humans understand identity. We’ve moved away from "one size fits all" and toward a world where everyone gets to pick the colors that actually feel like home. That’s not confusing—it’s actually pretty incredible.
The next time you see a flag with colors you don't recognize, take a second to appreciate the history behind it. There’s almost always a story of someone who fought very hard just to have those specific stripes exist. Overcoming invisibility is a long game, and these flags are the scoreboard.