Gilbert Baker didn't just want a logo. He wanted a scream. It was 1978 in San Francisco, a time when the "Pink Triangle" was still the primary symbol for the gay community—a heavy, traumatic remnant of Nazi concentration camps. Baker, urged by Harvey Milk, decided we needed something beautiful. Something that came from the sky. He looked at the rainbow.
Honestly, the colours of the pride flag weren't just picked because they looked pretty on a parade float. Each one was a deliberate choice meant to represent a specific pillar of the human experience. Most people today see the six-stripe version and think that’s how it always was. It wasn't. The original flag had eight stripes, and the story of how it shrank—and then grew again decades later—is basically a history of the movement itself.
The Original Eight: What We Lost
When that first flag flew at the United Nations Plaza during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978, it was a handmade masterpiece. Baker and a team of volunteers literally dyed the fabric in trash cans at the Gay Community Center.
The original lineup was:
- Hot Pink: Representing sexuality.
- Red: Life.
- Orange: Healing.
- Yellow: Sunlight.
- Green: Nature.
- Turquoise: Magic and Art.
- Indigo: Serenity.
- Violet: Spirit.
Ever wonder why you don't see the hot pink anymore? It’s kind of a boring reason for such a vibrant color: production costs. After Harvey Milk was assassinated in November 1978, the demand for the flag skyrocketed. Paramount Flag Co. started selling a version, but hot pink fabric was rare and expensive to mass-produce. They dropped it.
Then Turquoise got the axe too. In 1979, the committee noticed that when they hung the flags vertically from the lamp posts on Market Street, the center stripe was obscured by the post itself. To fix the symmetry, they combined the blue and green elements, landing on the six-stripe version we’ve used for nearly forty years.
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Red for Life, Not Just a Pretty Shade
Red is the anchor. It’s the first color in the modern six-stripe sequence. Baker chose red to signify Life. In the late 70s, the community was fighting for the right to exist without being institutionalized or arrested. Red was the blood in the veins. It was the refusal to be erased.
By the 1980s, the meaning of red shifted slightly in the public consciousness due to the HIV/AIDS crisis. It became a color of survival. While the official meaning remained "Life," for a whole generation of activists like those in ACT UP, that red stripe was a reminder of the friends they were losing. It’s visceral.
Why Orange and Yellow Are About More Than Just "Brightness"
Orange stands for Healing. Think about that for a second. In 1978, being gay was still considered a mental disorder by many in the medical establishment (the APA had only removed it from the DSM in 1973). The idea that the community needed "healing"—not from their orientation, but from the trauma of society’s rejection—was revolutionary.
Yellow is Sunlight. It sounds simple, right? Like a kindergarten drawing. But for Baker, it was about coming out of the shadows. For decades, "the life" was lived in dark bars with blacked-out windows and secret underground clubs. Yellow was a command to step into the light and be seen. No more hiding.
The Nature and Spirit of the Bottom Half
Green represents Nature. This was a direct middle finger to the "unnatural" argument. For a century, the primary weapon used against queer people was the claim that their love went against the natural order. By putting green right in the middle of the flag, Baker was asserting that LGBTQ+ people are a natural, organic part of the world’s ecosystem. We belong here.
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Then you have the blue (Indigo) and violet.
- Indigo/Blue: Serenity. It’s the calm. The idea that peace is possible even in a world of conflict.
- Violet: Spirit. This is the "soul" of the movement. It’s the connection to something larger than oneself.
The "New" Colours of the Pride Flag: Progress and Controversy
If you’ve walked through a city recently, you’ve probably noticed the "Progress Pride Flag" designed by Daniel Quasar in 2018. It adds a chevron on the left side with black, brown, light blue, pink, and white.
Some people got really worked up about this. "The rainbow covers everyone!" they argued. But the reality is that the history of the movement hasn't always been inclusive. Black and Brown activists, like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, were often pushed to the back of the line when it came to legal victories and social recognition.
The black and brown stripes were first introduced in Philadelphia in 2017 to highlight racial discrimination within the community. It wasn't about changing the meaning of the rainbow; it was about acknowledging that the "Life" and "Healing" represented by the other colors weren't being distributed equally.
The light blue, pink, and white stripes come from the Transgender Pride Flag, created by Monica Helms in 1999. Adding them to the main flag was a response to the specific, violent targeting of trans individuals. It’s a visual pledge of protection.
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Why the Colours Still Change Today
There isn't one "Pope" of Pride who decides what the flag looks like. It’s open source. That’s why you see variations like the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag, which adds a yellow triangle with a purple circle.
Is it getting cluttered? Some think so. But others argue that as our understanding of identity becomes more nuanced, our symbols should too. The flag is a living document. It’s not a stagnant piece of heraldry from the 1400s; it’s a tool for communication.
Common Misconceptions
- Myth: The flag has seven colors like a real rainbow.
- Fact: It usually has six. Real rainbows have "Indigo" and "Violet" as separate distinct bands, but the pride flag merged them for production reasons.
- Myth: Gilbert Baker made millions off the design.
- Fact: He actually refused to trademark it. He wanted it to belong to the world. He died in 2017, but he never saw a penny in royalties for the most famous flag on earth.
How to Respect the Symbolism in 2026
Using the colours of the pride flag in branding has become a bit of a corporate trope. We call it "Rainbow Washing." You see it every June—banks and defense contractors turning their logos multi-colored while donating to politicians who roll back LGBTQ+ rights.
If you're using these colors, context matters. Using the Progress Pride flag signals a specific awareness of intersectionality. Using the classic six-stripe flag is a nod to the 1979 heritage.
Actionable Steps for Using Pride Symbols
- Check the version: If you are trying to show support for the most marginalized in the community, use the Progress Pride or Intersex-Inclusive version. It shows you’ve done your homework.
- Verify the source: If buying a flag, try to purchase from queer-owned businesses or nonprofits like the Gilbert Baker Foundation.
- Know the history: If someone asks why there's brown on the flag, don't just say "it's for everyone." Mention the 2017 Philadelphia campaign. Be specific. Specificity is respect.
- Beyond the flag: Remember that the colors are a representation of values. If you're wearing "Healing" (Orange) or "Spirit" (Violet), think about how you're actually contributing to those things in the real world.
The rainbow isn't just a design choice. It’s a record of a fight that started in a dusty attic in San Francisco with a few trash cans full of dye and a lot of hope. Whether there are six stripes or eleven, the core message hasn't actually shifted: we are here, we are part of nature, and we aren't going anywhere.